Flight to Freedom
by 4everFreeDreamer
Summary: Four young experiments from the University believe themselves to be sold to a foreign country far away. What they don't know is that their lives will be drastically changed as their cargo ship is hijacked by agents of SHIELD, a secret service that was thought to be just a myth to get their hopes up. But is one of the experiments turning against the others?
1. Chapter 1: New Friends

The University- a giant Laboratory Quartered in the middle of the sweltering Gibson Desert in the "Land down under," A.K.A.- Australia. Despite the name their true motive is to create multiple experiments until they come up with a "Superior Species" to govern the world. Those of us experiment that aren't "worthy", are usually sold off to the highest bidding country, usually for military purposes.

Every day of the week, they take us to do different things to explore our abilities and test our strengths. Mondays were for training in the Cage, where we were put against each other to see who's stronger.

Tuesdays we were taken outside to the desert to withstand the heat. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays were all for our individual training sessions.

On Saturdays, we were fighting in the Cage again and Sundays found ourselves staying in "The Doghouse" of the University. Occasionally they would change the schedule to evaluate us in small groups.

Although this particular day was a Sunday, I was standing outside in the heat of the Gibson Desert, Australia. Alongside me stood my closest friend, Ivy, whose chocolate skin was already sweating from the 96 degree springtime weather.

Chained to my left were two people that I had never seen before. A tan skinned boy with dark gray hair towered about a head over me, large bat wings protruding from his back. He was nervous, constantly shifting from foot to foot.

Next to him was a figure cloaked completely in a cream colored cloak, engulfing its body from hood to toe. As we were all faced in a line toward the fence, separating the University from the rest of the world, I knew that behind us stood at least three more scientists, ready to take us down should any one of us act up. Right in front of us was the head of mine and Ivy's section- Dr. Harris.

Just beyond the fence, about 5 yards away, stood 4 people- 3 men and a lady- staring at us. Clearing his throat, Harris smiled, warm and welcoming as if it were his lucky day. "First off, I would like to say thank you, my dear guests for coming out to see us today.

"Today is our evaluation for these four experiments, from our Section Alpha, 119 and 127, and from Section Beta, Experiments 201 and 323. We'll be beginning with 323 from Section Beta." Always the focused one, Ivy stepped forward when her number was called.

"Number 323 is, as you can see, a 9 year old Afro-Arabian girl, with many mental abilities. Her IQ excels over 180, is Omni-linguistic and is an illusionist." I gave out a small huff. "What does that even mean?" I mumbled.

Ivy glanced back at me. "It means I'm incredibly smart, can understand just about any language, and I can make people see things that aren't actually there." She whispered, all the while smirking. After her turn, Ivy stepped back into line, waiting for the "show" to go on. The watchers whispered among each other, glancing at each and every one of us.

"Experiment 201, Step forward." As I reluctantly stepped up, Dr. Harris took out a small key from his lab coat and replaced the chains on my wrists with thick silver bracelets. As he did so, he leaned in close enough for me to smell his nose stinging fish breath. "Make one mistake today, Bird girl, and I'll hang you on the fence by your wing tips!" He hissed, smirking.

I gave no warning as I unfolded my large tan wings, kicking off the ground and into the sky within three seconds, a new record for me. I skyrocketed up to meet the thin clouds that littered the pale blue sky. Looking down, I used my raptor vision to see all those feet back to the "guests" visiting us.

While the cherry haired woman and the man with the sandy colored hair kept their cool, I could see the clearly astounded/ impressed looks on the other two companions. Smiling, I flew in a wide circle, dipping through the few clouds that were in my way.

This place up here, this is a world entirely mine. No other human could dare to feel it as I can. The wind tangling my short brown hair, chasing the sun and moon, with the strength of an eagle and the grace of a swan. Sure a very large swan but the point still stands.

Just when I felt like I'd be up here forever, a small stinging brought my attention to me wrist. I began to get dizzy, losing altitude as my wing movements began to get sloppy and slower. Before I knew it, I had stumbled on to the ground, where I was dragged unceremoniously back to the others and once again chained to Ivy.

Harris hissed at me, "You were taking too long!" facing me with a scowl before turning back to the visitors, no doubt smiling as before. I swear, that guy has something against me specifically.

"Experiment 201 is our first successful avian human. She is a 9 year old Italian American girl and is injected with the DNA of a Peregrine falcon. She can fly at an average of 105 mph. She is our fastest avian experiment."

One of the visitors, a brown haired man adjusted his glasses, addressing Dr. Harris. "Are all of these 'experiments' in good health condition?" Though he didn't show it, he made it sound like he forced the words out. Harris narrowed his eyes. "Yes, each and every one of them is in perfect condition. Now on to our next Section."

The cloaked person stepped up upon hearing its number. "Experiment 119 is a Caucasian girl, age 12, and her abilities-"I blocked out Harris's deep voice in favor of gaining more information about the boy next to me. Tapping him on the shoulder, I smiled when he looked at me, reddish brown eyes looking down at me warily.

"I'm Firefly." I whispered, careful not to draw any attention to us. "What's your name?" "Firefly is not a normal name." He responded quietly. I huffed. "Well, my real name is Marley, but I think 'Firefly' sounds more exciting, don't you think?" He gave a small smile opening his mouth to say something before Harris called his number, snapping us out of conversation.

"127 is an experiment from our 'night creatures' line. It was a group of experiments to see what would happen if a nocturnal animal and a non-nocturnal creature could reside in the same DNA scheme." Harris claimed.

"And did it work?" That was the first time the red haired woman spoke up. She looked un-amused with her slender arms crossed over her curvy body. Harris frowned. "No, 127 is just as day bound as before.

"127 is an 11 year old English boy whose abilities include flight with his albino bat wings at an average of 65 mph and has a type of 'Radar Sense', enabling him to be aware of anything within a 10 meter radius of himself."

The boy stepped back into his rightful place next to me, staring out at the scientists. "Shuffle." "Huh?" He glanced down at me. "If your name is Firefly, then mine is 'Shuffle." He answered shyly. My smile grew wider. "Alright, Shuffle it is."

"… Glad to do business with you all. I expect someone to be here tomorrow for pick up and handling?" Dr. Harris wrapped up his discussion.

'What? Pick-up?' I scooted back toward Ivy so she could fill me in. "Ivy, what did I miss?" She sigh, explaining the situation to me.

"They are apparently from some weapons company in Romania. They just bought all of us and by High Noon tomorrow, we'll be on a cargo plane to no-man's land." Ivy poured out the information that I missed.

"All of us?" I asked hopefully. I would hate to leave my friends behind to go on an adventure. I would probably get to fly to all sorts of places, but I can't leave my family behind stuck in cages.

Ivy sighed. "No, just you, me, Bat Boy over there-," "Shuffle." "…fine, Shuffle, and the hooded girl over there." We both looked over to the person in question.

Besides the long, dark hair spilling out of the hood, there was almost no way to find out that there was even a living thing hidden behind the cloth.

* * *

We were herded back through the University doors, into the long expanse of hallway once again. After telling the others about the strange people and the new arrangements, it was up for discussion. Meaning everyone was shouting at each other.

"Absurd! You can't leave us. We're family!" Moonah screeched out the loudest, golden tail lashing out against the bars behind her. She was part howler monkey, after all.

Snowflower was trying to make the best of the situation. "Well, you'll come back and find a way to free us too, right?" She looked up at Ivy, a cage across from her, with pleading pale blue eyes, her voice as soft as normal. Ivy shrugged. "It depends on what they plan on doing with us. We might not even live long enough to devise a plan." Snow looked horrified at the idea. "Th-they w-wouldn't kill you, would they?" She looked to the others. I just shrugged.

Leo asked in a rumbling voice, "What are we going to do without you two? Who's gonna tell us stories every night to help us sleep?"

I decided to speak up. "C'mon guys, you've still got King and Topaz to account for. Speaking of, where are they?" Moonah answered my question. "They should still be in training. Hmph, they have the longest sessions out of all of us!" She shook her head, golden strands waving wildly about her face.

At that moment, the sliding doors of the warehouse we were in creaked open and the two in question stepped in. Topaz was covered in dust, dimming the shine of her cinnamon skin tone. Her choppy shoulder length black hair was caked in even more dirt, masking her small panther ears. King was another story.

Our fearless leader was as clean and flawless as he had been this morning. His hair, shoulder length locks of light brown, was fine and fair, fitting perfectly with his tall, spotted serval- cat ears and thin tail trailing behind obediently.

Without a sound, the two were put in their respective cages- Topaz above Ivy, across from mine, and King two cages over from me- and their handlers left without so much as a glance at the others.

King looked around the circle of cages, addressing anyone who would answer.

"Is everyone alright?" Chauncey nodded. "Everyone is okay."

"Any news about anything?"

"Me and Firefly are being shipped off to Romania tomorrow." Ivy stayed as calm as her sister in times like these.

"WHAT?!" King screeched, waking up anyone who attempted to take a nap, me included. The serval- hybrid jumped up and started pacing around his cage, blue eyes a lit with rage. "What right do they have to separate us? To sell you to ROMANIA?!" He was fuming.

"They have no right to lock us up in cages and use at lab rats, but they do anyway." I put in my input. King stopped pacing and stared at me. Oh, gosh. I shouldn't have said that. I hate it when he looks at me with those icy blue eyes, and I bet that everyone else does too. We're just afraid to admit it. I felt as if he could see right into the core of my being with one icy glance.

I looked away quickly. "Firefly, we mustn't fall into their temptations that they hold to our faces. We must resist or we'll end up in deep trouble." He said to me.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I snapped at him. God, I hated it so much when he changes subject so quickly. "Your scent implies that you've been near a bat." What? Sometimes I think he speaks just to hear himself talk…

Oh. 'Bat.' Shuffle. I should have thought about that. We aren't supposed to mingle with other sectors of experiments. It apparently "stains them with our scrambled DNA." King doesn't want us lingering with other sectors during training sessions, though I never knew why, and I didn't have the guts to ask. On the other hand, there are only three sectors...

I shifted, suddenly uncomfortable with my position. Everyone was staring at me by now. "T-there was another flyer, like me. I- um," Ivy saved me before I could make a fool of myself.

"Oh!" She faked surprise, "Wasn't that the bat boy that got tangled in your chains as he walked by?" Her sharp green eyes locked with mine in feigned bewilderment. "He was quite the clumsy one, wasn't he? Tripping over you, causing you both to fall."

"Yeah, that was him. Poor guy had no sense of balance." I wrapped up the lie perfectly. "Ahm, I'm gonna get some sleep. We've apparently got a long day tomorrow. *yawn* Okay, well good night!" I flipped on to my back and curled into a ball, ready for exhaustion to overtake me.


	2. Chapter 2: Ships and Suprises

_The wind brushed against my wings as I glided away from the horrid place I was forced to live in for most of my life. My wings glinted from the golden flecks embedded in them. I flew over the river, feeling as free as the flowing water running through the lands of the snow- capped mountains._

_This is where I belong, among the clouds, chasing the challenging sun, its bright rays, coaxing me closer to its warmth._

_Flipping and turning, I noticed on the ground, three little dots. I lost altitude as I angled my wings to get a closer look of the three. It was Ivy and Shuffle, and the cloaked figure from… where again? Who knows?_

_I was getting close enough to land when something shot through the air and buzzed past my ear. Narrowly missing, I turned in the air to get a batter look at the object. As soon as I turned, white hot pain shot through my left wing and I fell straight down._

_Through my pain, I glanced at the thing that was lodged in my wing. An arrow._

* * *

Day 1499

I woke up in a cold sweat, jumping to my feet on the floor of the metal cage. I looked around, taking in everything around me.

I wasn't flying away from the University. I was still in it. I wasn't surrounded by an endless mountain range. I was surrounded by bars. The sun couldn't find me in my tiny cage, underneath three others just like it. Crawling to a corner of the over-sized dog cage, I sat down and put my arms over my legs, trying to slow by flying heart rate.

I like the name Firefly for two reasons. One, is that I have wings-obviously, everyone thinks this is the only reason I'm called that. But there is another, and here it is.

I cupped my hands together and closed my eyes. I thought about the little happiness I had in my life. I thought about Ivy, and Snowflower and Topaz. I thought about my wings and I thought about Shuffle, the new friend I made yesterday.I though about how I was still alive and as healthy as possible. I thought about all of the little things that made me happy, and something happened.

A little ball of light started to glow in my cupped hands. It was small, only about the size of a spoon's curve, but it was mine, and that's all that mattered to me. This little light would follow me anywhere and everywhere. It was always in my heart. It was all of my love.

After a few minutes, the light started to fade, and I let it disappear completely. I became tired again and this time, fell into a dreamless sleep.

~Time Skip~

Light poured into the Dog-House as the sun peeked through the small skylight. I woke up quietly and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, still thinking about my dream from earlier. 'Weird. I've never had a dream like that before.'

As I was remembering my dream, the door to the warehouse creaked open. Topaz, with her sharp hearing, woke up easily from the squeaking of the old doors.

She yawned and, sensing another person awake, glanced around the old warehouse until her golden eyes landed on me. "You look a little shaken up. Feeling okay there, Skycatcher?" That seemed to be her personal nickname for me.

Before I could respond, the reason for the doors opening, being the Scientists, made themselves known. But they weren't alone.

Two of the Visitors that were here yesterday stood behind a bald headed "professor" and the oh so "fun" Harris. It was the scarlet haired woman and the light brown haired man who came again.

Harris led the way to first, where Ivy was still asleep, curled into the corner of her cage. The bald professor carelessly grabbed the poor girl, shaking her out of her dream world and flung her over his shoulder. Her only response was a surprised squeal and stayed quiet afterwards.

Then, Harris walked over to my cage and gave one of his awful grins. The kind that you want to slap right off of his face. Anyway, he opened my cage slowly and roughly grabbed me by one of my wings, pulling me down to the ground.

I noticed the American man flinch at the sound of me slamming against the ground, though the woman's face was still impassive. I was half dragged across the floor as we migrated toward the doors.

Harris pulled me up. "Listen here," He hissed into my ear," You better behave for these people. Otherwise…" He smirked at me and kicked me through the door, I landed flat on my stomach. "No promises." I muttered.

I noticed that Shuffle and the hooded girl were also in the hallway, each being closely watched by a guard.

The bald guy put Ivy down next to me and pulled out two silver bracelets from his pocket. Each suppression bracelet was latched on to our wrists before the handcuffs that bonded me to Shuffle and Ivy to the hooded girl.

Trying to keep my optimism up, I smiled at Shuffle. "Don't worry, we're gonna be okay!"

He gave an unsure look back. "How do you know?" "I don't, but this will be a new adventure for us full of opportunities, so why be scared?"

The white haired boy seemed astounded by my answer, if his silence was anything to go by. He gave a small smile back to me.

"That's a new way of thinking." He said. I smiled back at him before I was roughly shoved from behind. "Get moving."Twisting around, I almost laughed at the scowl on Harris's face. 'Don't do it. Don't do it!'

"Wow, that's quite an improvement from your regular face, Doc." I mocked him openly, earning a small gasp from the hooded girl, and a chuckle from Ivy.

I wasn't expecting him to shove my head back forward. I grunted in pain as Harris shoved me farther down the hallway. I followed the never-ending hallway, Shuffle visible in the corner of my eye. The foreigner guy and the bald guy began making small talk.

"So, everything is ready for shipment?" The foreigner's American accent poked out in his speech. The bald guy responded. "Yes everything is ready to go."

"So…" the American hesitated, unsure of what to say. So his mate decided to pick up the conversation.

"How far will you accompany us?" She sounded a bit impatient.

"All the way on to the ship, to get our cargo situated, then we shall depart." Harris put his two cent in.

I felt a twitch near my left, tapping on my shoulder. Turning I noticed that it was one of Shuffle's albino wings, twitching awkwardly. I leaned closer to him. "What's wrong with your wing, Shuffle?"

He twitched again at the sudden touch of our hands together- something we couldn't get out of from the handcuffs- but stayed staring straight ahead. He never answered my question.

After what seemed like an hour- _but I was always an exaggerator-_ we found ourselves pushing our way through the large double doors of the University, leading out to the desert.

Behind the fence now, instead of the guests from yesterday, was a large armored car, completely black and all shiny. Shuffle seemed to be trying (Key word being trying) to hide from the bright morning light of the sun. I decided not to ask any more questions. For now.

We piled into the car, or more like, the Foreigners and the scientists got in first, then yanked us in by the handcuffs. I let out a squeak of pain from the harsh metal, then regretted it as I saw the smug look on Harris's face.

This guy always knew how to get on my nerves.

The ride lasted for about an hour or so, traveling east. I got tired of trying to get information out of the scarlet haired woman- which got absolutely nowhere by the way- so I switched to gathering information through my second favorite way- observing the area around me.

The first thing I noticed was that the two foreigners had the same emblem on the chests of their outfits. What seemed to be a picture of some type of bird with stripes separating the bottom to seem like wings. It seems familiar to me, but from where?

It had something written around it, the letters circling the silver and black bird. I'm not sure what it says though.

The second thing I noticed that Ivy was awfully quiet. She kept staring out of the back window, back to the University that was gradually shrinking into the desert. She had a bored expression on her face, but I knew she was thinking of so much more.

Most likely of the sister that she's leaving in that place. It may not seem like it, but those two are as close as can be.

Also, Shuffle managed to get my hand off of my leg on to the cool leather seat and was fidgeting with his hands, giving me a glance every few minutes. Just as I would glance back at him, he would jerk his head back down to his nervously dancing thumbs. His large bat wings were huddled to his side, still twitching like before.

After a while, Ivy started moving in her seat, getting almost as fidgety as when she was given French fries for dinner, which got me suspicious and apparently the American woman as well.

"Are you alright?" She asked with a confused expression. Ivy was still twitching, but now she was on her feet, looking out the small windows of the armored car. She managed to pull the cloaked girl up with her (keep in mind that we're still handcuffed together).

A small chuckle came from the dark blue cloak, almost silent. "She seems to be quite attracted to the salty air coming from the sea." She didn't seem annoyed by Ivy rambunctious actions, simply amused by them.

Soon enough, the heat trap of transportation came to a jerky stop and the driver came around to unlock the back doors.

I stepped out into the world, glad to be back under the warm sunlight and the challenge of adventure tugging at me.

We were at a port. The entire area was crowded by people of different skin shades and hair colors. Black, gray, brown hair. Dark skin, pale skin, tanned, and olive all mixing together to create large diversities in the even larger docks.

Ivy was still intoxicated by the sea salt air. It smelled like fish to me, but then again, we all have our weird things about us. Mine is probably my obsession with the sky. But what can I say, I'm a bird.

Harris to make us look inconspicuous- wrapped me and Shuffle in robes, hiding our wings from the others occupying the docks. We walked on through the area, passing by rows of boats of many colors. Words could not describe how much the thick material was helping the sun to bake me alive.

We stopped in front of a large ship, about halfway down the docks. It was large, with three giant sails tugging against the wind. "That's a big ship." I said.

A man near us must have heard me, and gave the information on the ship. "This baby is called the King's Shadow. She's a three masted Schooner with a great handle on the ocean, and easy to maneuver if you get caught in storms. Faster than a sloop and stronger than a pirate ship. Even at 8.8 meters (29 ft.) to the top mast, and 33 and a half meters (110 ft.) from end to end." He beamed with pride, phis hands proudly on his hips.

"Its just a really big ship." Shuffle concluded. The poor sailor seemed despaired by our lack of interest. Harris finally decided to step in. "Forgive the children; it's their first time seeing a ship in real life. I am Professor James Harris. Are you the man who will sail us to Chennai?" The man nodded. "Yes sir. We're ready for you whenever you're ready."

As the men began to converse about the course of the sailing, I once again walked over to Ivy, helpless Shuffle still in tow. "Where's Chennai?" Was my question for today. Ivy, seemingly calmed down- well at least a little bit- from her salt rush gave a simple answer.

"It's a port in India, across the Bay of Bengal. Right now we're at-".

"Broome. It is one of the four Pearling docks in Australia." The cloaked girl said before Ivy could finish. The poor Arabian skinned girl was fuming. If there was anything the green eyed girl didn't like, it was being interrupted.

Soon enough, everything was cleared and, one by one, we made it to the deck of the white painted ship. Almost as soon as we stepped on to the ship, the cloaked girl fell to her knees, the sleeves of her robe encircled around her stomach.

Ivy took this to her advantage and smirked. " What's the matter, a little sea sick, mystery girl?" She mocked. She shook her head. "I'm not too fond of being off of land."

Quickly, the ladder used to climb was brought aboard once again and the ship was untied to the docks.

We were sailing out to sea.

The adults were conversing among each other, so we were left to do whatever. Except fly away. So we amused ourselves by asking questions to each other. I managed to find out a lot about the hidden girl and Shuffle, and even a few new things about Ivy that I didn't know. We told each other about ourselves. The hooded girl started first.

"My name is Magenta, and I wear this cloak for reasons that I rather wouldn't tell you. The only reason I knew about Broome was because that is my power. To be able to know about a person or object's history just by touching it." That was about all we could get from her.

Shuffle was next. "Well, um, I wasn't known by anything but my experiment number until Firefly called me Shuffle. She has been my first and best friend. Um, I-have the DNA of a Honduran white bat, and I'm very sensitive to sunlight and loud sounds. Oh, and I'm 11"

It seemed I was up next so I gave a big smile and introduced myself. "My name is Firefly! I'm mixed with the DNA of a peregrine falcon, the fastest animal on earth! Anyway, I'm 9 years old and I'm a bit tall for my age. I also have like a type of internal compass thingy, so I always know which way I'm traveling. I can also create a ball of light in my hands when I'm happy!" I finished my dialogue and waited for Ivy to start.

"I'm Ivy, as you can see by my eye color. I can understand just about any language; I am also able to great pretty vivid illusions, to the point where it's hard for even me to tell the difference between the illusion or a living nightmare. I also have an older sister that we left back at the University and I miss her dearly…" Ivy trailed off, probably thinking about her family that was left behind.

I contemplated telling more about myself to lighten the mood, but my thoughts were interrupted by Shuffle.

"Hey guys, do you hear that too?" The naturally nervous boy asked. I listened closely, but only heard it after a few more seconds. "Yeah, kinda like a helicopter." Magenta said.

"No," Ivy pointed up to the sky, "Exactly like a helicopter." And there it was, hovering above us was a big black chopper, not even 10 feet above the highest mast. A rope ladder was thrown down toward the deck, but that's not what caught my attention.

It was the emblem painted silver on the side of the dark machine. The same bird that I saw on the Americans' outfits. The same one described to me when I was a little girl, hoping for my freedom.

The logo of SHIELD.


	3. Chapter 3: A twist in negotiations

Flight to freedom Chapter 3:

Topaz POV:

King, to say the least, was furious that the girls had been taken when everyone was asleep. He yelled in his cage and beat on the titanium bars, roaring furiously with his sharp cat ears flattened to his golden hair, like a mad man. His tantrum had already awakened Snowflower and Chauncey, the ill-tempered Tasmanian devil boy.

"How could they just take them, without letting us say goodbye?!" He began ranting.

"King..." I said, reclining back as much as I could.

He jumped up and began pacing in his small cage, ears flattened against his head. "Kidnapped right under our noses while we were sleeping. How cowardly!"

"King," I said a little louder, still not catching his attention. He stopped pacing, clenching a fist as if to hit someone. "We should show those scientist how it feels to lose someone for their pack. How would they feel it their friends were taken from them? I bet the cowards would-"

"THAT"S ENOUGH!" I barked at the serval boy, losing my temper again. As SnowFlower and the others cowered at my seething rage, King merely gave me an icy cold glare. "What?"

"The emblem on the Visitors' Jackets. They were of SHIELD." Everything seemed to go dead silent in the entire building that was the "Dog-House". King only shook his head, light brown strands falling perfectly into place. "SHIELD is only a hopeless bedtime story. Nothing more. It doesn't exist." He moved farther back into his cage, crouching in the corner.

The creak of the warehouse doors welcomed a new person into our collection of cages. Actually, two new people and another white coat. Both of them male, though one looked like he had been through a war, but only looked roughly around twenty. His bright blonde hair was combed over perfectly, well as opposed to his companion. They smelled of sweat and gunpowder.

The other man's hair was brown and lightly streaked with gray hair, perhaps a sign of a stressing job. Over in his cage, the "flawless" King was childishly attempting to force the blonde to back away from his cage, giving him one of his death-like glares. Needless to say, it didn't work.

The professor, whom was named Professor. Lewis with them took no heed to King and walked right up to my cage, giving a sadistic smile as he did so. "This one is experiment 29 of our feline arc. Mixed with the DNA of various wild cats, she is one of our most successful. Number 29 has amazing cat-like reflexes as well as night vision and excellent hearing."

The brown haired guy asked a question, surprising me for his American accent. "What's her name?" his question also surprised the Scientists.

I narrowed my orange-yellow eyes and turned away, leaning against the cold bars of the cage. I could hear him walk right up to my cage. "My name is Bruce Banner, and this is my colleague, Steve Rogers." I hesitated before half turning back to him. "You can call me Topaz. Or you could not call me at all." I watched his face for any sign of distress or fear.

He only smiled and backed away, listening to the professor's analysis of King. " Experiment 28 is also a part of the feline arc, though unlike ex. 29, he is enhanced with the DNA of a domesticated serval. He has sensitive ears to be able to hear a bird's wing beat from about a half a mile away." king puffed out his chest in pride, only adding to his mountain sized ego.

Eventually, the professor removed us from our cages for another day of training, starting with a flexibility and body strength session.

* * *

We were led to our usual area for training, a huge room that basically looked like a giant jungle gym. Poles stuck out from awkward sides of the walls, connecting with the other side of the room, some connecting with other poles.

At the top of the gym, hanging from the ceiling was our target. It was different every day and today, it seemed to be some kind of bread. How they managed to get that on a string was beyond me.

The minute the white coat let go of our tails, we sprinted to the first pole that we could get. I crouched just below the first bar and shot up, easily keeping a hold on the bar. Jumping nimbly from bar to bar, I risked a look back down.

King was right below me, desperately trying to catch up to my height. King, infused with the DNA of a domestic cat, is a lot slower than me, infused with the DNA of many types of wild cats. I could hear his hurried breaths as he jumped from pole to pole, the sound of his hands hitting metal echoing throughout the arena type room.

I brushed some of my spiky black hair away from my orange-yellow eyes and put on another boost of energy, speeding up. By now we were beyond the line on the wall, marking the halfway point to the target.

As I jumped to the next bar, King's sharp fingernails came down on my black lion tail, making me let out a screech from the pain. Using this to his advantage, he grabbed a part of my jacket, yanking me down with his body weight as he propelled himself up.

"Alright!" I hissed. "We'll play the hard way." Jumping up, I found my rhythm swinging up from bar to bar until I was right on King's tail. Getting another boost of power, I jumped right on to King's back, digging my sharp nails into the soft flesh of his shoulder. Having satisfactory at his howls of pain, I yanked myself up on to the final bar, claiming the hanging bread as my breakfast. As my rival hung helplessly from the top bar, I swiftly jumped down from the railings, stopping only to whisper in King's serval ears. "That was for yesterday." The boy reddened with rage and embarrassment as I took my prize down back to ground level.

Landing perfectly on my feet, I split the bread loaf, eating only half of the sweet bread. It was only then did I notice that I was bleeding from where King caught me. "She's hurt!" Looking over, the other visitor, Rogers, was running over to me, eyes locked on my tail and ankles. He looked at me, blue eyes worried. "Are you alright?" I shrugged, turning away. "I'll be fine." I took another bite of the sweet bread, looking up to where King was making a slow descent back down.

As he hit the ground, he turned away from us all, arms crossed, the universal sign that he was mad. Hissing angrily, he turned and walked past us, rejecting the other half of the bread I held out for him. Part of his shirt was stained with blood from my "revenge" for doing the same to me. Professor Lewis sent us to the medical ward to get treated before we went on toward our other activities for the day.

Afterwards, we were sent back to the Dog-House to rest until tomorrow, the visitors and Lewis following us all the way, discussing their plans. "So," Lewis said. "You are okay with having these two to take?"

"Yeah, and we'll also gladly get the others off of your hands if its okay with you." He sounded a like he wasn't so sure of himself.

I could hear the smile in the Professor's voice in his next words. "That, Dr. Banner would be excellent." We were placed back into our respective cages and the others left quickly, deciding on means of transport.

I felt something being pushed into my hand.

After we were locked back up and left alone, we discussed.

"So," King started, "First Firefly and Ivy, then us. Do you think they're planning on selling us all?" He looked at me.

Unfolding the paper that was forced into my hand, my eyes widened at the symbol of the eagle, surrounded by words. I showed the paper to everyone.

Strategic Hazard Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division.

_S.H.I.E.L.D._

* * *

-Flashback~ 4 years ago

_We were all gathered into a plain white room, probably for another teamwork test. I never knew why they do these things. Ivy was standing next to me, only reaching up to mid-arm as I was 10 and she only 6._

_Firefly, the new girl, was huddled into a corner, shivering nervously. Her bright violet eyes darted from one person to another as we waited for our handlers, and her light brown-blonde hair_

_Finally, a female white coat walked in. Now, we never liked the scientists that enjoyed playing with our feelings and torturing us, but this particular girl was special. She was somewhere around 25 with a calm disposition and soft eyes._

_She never told us her name, but we decided to call her Serenity, because she made us peaceful. Anyway, Serenity would often tell us stories about the outside world, as it seemed that only I could remember my life before the University._

_She spoke of a special organization of agents that could someday save us from this miserable pit of darkness. "Strategic Hazard Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division, a.k.a. SHIELD. They specialize in helping others and keeping the peace for the whole world."_

"_And how do we know that they're real and you're not just making this up?" As usual, King was wary of anything the white coat said, afraid that she was filling our heads with empty promises. She merely smiled and pulled out something from her pocket._

_In here pale hands; she held a black and white circle, with a bird on it. "This is the SHIELD insignia. Its black and white, with an eagle with its wings spread out behind the American stars and stripes." She showed us the logo, the silver letters catching the artificial light of the room._

_Later that week, Serenity was "relieved" from the University, never to be seen again._

_That sign would be forever etched into our minds as a myth, believing that nothing could save us from our fates. Never had I been so wrong._

* * *

Flashback end~

King seemed to be lost staring at the paper holding the so called "myth" that we lost faith in so long ago. Snowflower was the first to react. Her pale blue eyes lit up at the crumpled logo. "SHIELD is real! We're going to be saved!" The others started to celebrate with whispered happiness and cheers. Our mini celebration was cut short by more "visitors" coming to see us.

I quickly hid the paper, tucking it safely in my fingerless glove. These new people held an air of darkness to them, and I immediately took a disliking to them. There were only three of them, besides the white coat that accompanied them.

The tall guy in the middle merely pointed to the cages holding Moonah, King and Leo, the youngest of us and an odd cross breed between a lion and a wolf (he had a very fuzzy gray tail with a large puff on the end and regular lion ears). The other two with him took the three out of their cages, attaching small silver bracelets on each of their wrists.

Moonah tried to fight them, scratching at the handler and screeching out, until the white coat pulled out a small remote and pressed a button, rendering the howler girl temporarily paralyzed. She sat down in a daze as the other visitor threw her over his shoulder, dragging the others out the door.

"Wait!" I called out. "Where are you taking them?!" The white coat looked back at me. "I thought we don't leave until tomorrow?"

He smirked. "Sorry, my dear, but the Germans pay more. Don't worry, after a few 'negotiations', 143 will get to go to America with you." He laughed and, on that happy note, closed the doors to the warehouse, leaving us in almost complete darkness, save the small sliver of evening light coming from the window above.

I heard sniffling coming from my right and immediately knew it was Snowflower. The poor girl just lost her brother to a foreign country. I had no idea what to say to her, though I knew how she felt. After all, I had no idea if I would ever see my sister or best friend again. But I did know one thing.

SHIELD is real. And they're coming for us. _All of us._


	4. Chapter 4: No Longer a Legend

Flight to Freedom Chapter 4:

Firefly POV

I almost couldn't believe my purple hued eyes. And I thought I had seen everything.

Hanging not even 3 feet away from me, just brushing the wooden deck of the King's Shadow, was a rope ladder leading up to a SHIELD helicopter. I could barely hear anything other than the sounds of the blades turning, the wind rushing around my ears.

In my peripheral vision, something moved quickly to the ladder. Turning my attention now, I saw that it was the American man shouting something in English. Having been surrounded by Malay-speaking people for most of my life, my English understanding had become a little rusty.

He turned and jogged over to Ivy and Magenta, pulling out something from his pocket. From there I noticed that at some time when I wasn't looking, the captain of the ship had been tied to his own steering wheel, his few crewmates knocked out around him. Narfeti was nowhere to be seen, though I had a bit of an idea where he was now.

I realized that something was tugging at my wrist, revealing to be the other foreigner, the woman. She had a strange tool in her hand, now picking at the handcuffs binding me and Shuffle together. With one simple click, the chains fell to the ground, clanging on the deck.

The American man started yelling at us, obviously working in a hurry. "Go! Get on the chopper!" Ivy was the first to respond to the task, making her way up the ladder as fast as she could, Magenta hot on her tail (if she had one, that is.).

Finally getting a grasp of what was happening; Shuffle grabbed my hand and unfolded his wings, coaxing me to do the same. We took off, shooting up to the helicopter, hand in hand. We landed, stumbling, on the metal flooring of the large aircraft.

The inside had a leather bench on each side, black like the suit of the man sitting on one of them. He got up just as the two foreigners made it to the end of the rope. As soon as the scarlet haired woman got on, the helicopter pulled away, the experiments falling from the sudden jerk.

The three came to speak to each other, but Ivy didn't let them converse for long before her impatience (a trait shared with her sister) got the better of her.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on here?" Her eyes were flooded with confusion. Chuckling, the first guy, the one that was with us, explained.

"Well, first off, the name's Clint Barton, this" he said pointing to the woman, "is Natasha Romanov, and this is SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson." He finished with introductions. Shuffle tilted his head, snow white hair just covering the tops of his eyes. "What's 'SHIELD?"

It was time for the woman, now dubbed Natasha, to put in her two cents. "SHIELD is an espionage and law-enforcement agency headquartered within the United States."

"So," Magenta interpreted, "You're the good guys?"

Phil chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you can say that." He turned to the pilot's seat of the chopper and sat down next to him. The little bit of tension in the space had fled from the news. Now feeling relaxed everyone sat down to catch their bearings. It wasn't until then that I noticed that Shuffle was still holding my hand. _'Why did I wait until now to notice?' _I jerked my hand out of his grasp, earning a flinch from him.

Ivy was still "interrogating" the agents across from us. "What about the other men that came to see us yesterday? Who were they?" "They're with us, in a group called the Avengers Initiative, but they don't necessarily work for SHIELD like us." Clint responded.

"Where are you taking us now?" Clint smiled at the question. He leaned back in his seat, resting his head against the leather and crossing his well-built arms.

"To HQ." he said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Ivy rolled her eyes. "Okay, exactly where is that?"

He shrugged. "Not sure, sometimes it's in New York, sometimes its elsewhere." Needless to say, we were all confused now. It wasn't long until we got the answer to our unspoken question.

No one had noticed that the helicopter had landed until the monotonous humming of the engine had stopped, and the back had opened up yet again.

It was as if we had entered into a new world. We were on some type of landing strip, sailing in the water. I had so many things that I wanted to say then so I uttered the ever intelligent, "Woah."

Ivy followed up with her remark. "Looks like something out of a Sci-fi movie." The four of us walked over to the edge of the "ship", looking out to the endless blue-green sea. I smelt the scent of salt water, as Ivy seemed to as well. She went into another mini-fit, seemingly addicted to the element compound.

Four large turbines were placed on each corner of the surface, water churning inside, propelling it forward. Shuffle seemed mesmerized with looking into the water, fascinated by the power of the propellers. His ears twitched and he turned around. I followed his gaze to the agents walking toward us.

Clint smirked. "C'mon, there'll be time for exploring later." We all followed them to the inside of the large ship, in which I was now convinced it was a submarine. Inside, the entire ship looked like the headquarters for a computer troubleshooting company.

There were many agents diligently working on either the many computers on the platforms or delivering stacks of papers from one place to another. Suddenly, I felt us being watched. Using my excellent vision, I found pair of dark eyes looking back at me. Well, one dark eye and a black eye patch.

The eye belonged to a large man dressed in all black that held an air of absolute authority around him. He had to have been the director, hands down. He obviously intimidated the others, by the way that they were trying to hide behind me. Well, Shuffle and Magenta were anyway.

He walked down from his platform in the center of the room, taking slow, silent steps coming toward us. He stopped right in front of me. He seemed a lot less scary when standing on his platform, but now, towering above me by a good few _feet_, as I only reached up to his stomach.

He gave me one look over with his one good eye, and walked over to Agent Coulson as I let out a breath that I hadn't realized was holding in. The two talked for a few seconds before we were herded into a new room, this one occupied by old new faces.

They were all sitting around an arrowhead shaped table with the SHIELD insignia in the middle. The seemingly youngest one stood up and walked over to us. "So," his blue eyes darted down to meet us, and then back up to Agent Coulson, "These are the children that were rescued?" Coulson only nodded and left the room.

He quickly came back with a bunch of manila folders tucked under his arm. "These are their files and all of the information that we have on them."

He set the folders on to the table, leaving the room. Before picking up the files, they each introduced themselves to us, starting with the glasses character.

"My name is Bruce, by the way. Bruce Banner."

"Tony Stark. Genius, Billionaire, and Ironman." It was the man with an odd blue glow in his chest, and an overpowering ego as I had just learned.

The large buff warrior was next. "Greetings, midgardian children. I am Thor Odinson." His voice boomed like a hidden speaker. What is with this guy's speech? It's like he thinks he's a god or something.

"Steve Rodgers." Was the simple line of the other buff blonde. After the quick introductions, they each grabbed a folder, save Thor and Natasha, who had mysteriously disappeared already.

With nothing else to do, and the adults immersed in our files, I silently slipped out of the room alone. Keeping to the shadows, I managed to go undetected by passing agents. Somehow, I found my way up to a higher level, looking out at the main area that we were in before.

The director was once again on his platform, overseeing his agents and giving them commands. "Prepare for take-off." His deep voice carried the command and the room went into a type of controlled chaos. Statuses were shouted out, percentages outspoken, and finally, a "takeoff" was shouted out.

Looking out the window that was faced out to sea, the waves began to get larger as the turbines spun faster and faster. Before I even knew it, the saltwater waves disappeared from the window and large white clouds came closer.

This ship could fly. My mind has now been blown.

I heard a gasp behind me. Whipping my head around (and throwing my blond-brown hair out of my face) I found that Magenta had followed me and was also surprised by the airship's capabilities. Now discovered, she came to stand by me, her cloak slightly dragging across the ground. I looked back to the window.

"Our world is changing so quickly." I said, still amazed by the high tech airship. She nodded, her dark blue hood moving up and down.

"In more ways than one, it seems." Finally satisfied with staring out of the window, we decided to explore the rest of the ship together. We made our way around a lot of passageways and through many doors. We discovered training grounds, holding cells, conference rooms and a very large medical unit within the 30 minutes that no one noticed that we were gone.

After another half hour, we headed back to the Avengers room, Magenta remembering the way. When we opened the door, everything was in frenzy.

The files had been removed from the table, as well as the chairs and everyone was running around the room, calling for our names. Shuffle, who has expert hearing and had heard the click of the door closing, noticed us first as everyone else was searching the room.

"Ahem." Magenta caught the attention of the superheroes with a simple cough and all movement in the room ceased, all eyes focused on us two. Bruce let out a sigh of relief and walked up to us, a cautious expression on his face.

"You two shouldn't run off like that. Are you okay?" His voice was soft, like a worried and caring father.

I was taken aback by the question and the look in his eyes. No one had ever asked me that before, much less an adult that I had met just over an hour ago. While I was still speechless, Magenta covered for the both of us.

"We were just curious about the ship, so we went on an adventure of sorts." She said plainly. Her answer seemed to satisfy him for now. So after sitting in the corner with nothing to do for another 20 or so minutes, the door opened again and the director came in, followed by a female agent.

The avengers took their seats again and me and the others gathered around the table, waiting for the director to speak.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen. While we're in the process of taking down the University of Itex, the ones that were rescued will stay at Stark towers until the special complex being built in Montana is complete, which could be about a few more weeks." He spoke to the avengers.

They went off, talking about something involving rooms and board and lifestyles. I hadn't noticed that they had stopped talking until the director had left the room, the female agent still at his side. Tony stood up and clapped his hands together.

"Okay, time to go home now kiddies!" This guy was really starting to get on my nerves and the playboy smirk on his face wasn't making it any better. Reluctantly, we followed him outside to discover that the airship had landed next to a large city.

Buildings of all types towered above us, and in the distance, a bridge connecting between the mainland and an island. Never had I seen such a big city, and I was only the select few experiments that actually remembers their life before the University.

"Welcome," Tony said dramatically," to America. New York City, to be exact." Mesmerized, we followed him to where two silver limousines were waiting for us. I felt like a hummingbird in a chicken coop. Very little and out of place.

We piled into the cars, the four of us, Tony and Bruce in one, Clint and the others, including the funny talking "Thor" in the second. The two adults were amused by our bewildered expressions as we looked out of the tinted windows into the large urban jungle.

"I've never seen anything so bright before." Shuffle whispered.

"There are streets everywhere." We began pointing out the obvious.

"And people walking to wherever they want."

"No fences."

"No cages." On that note, the limo stopped in front of a very tall building with the name STARK on the very top. _Did I say overpowering ego? I meant arrogant._ It looks like _someone _forgot to cash in their reality check.

Folding our wings to look normal, Shuffle and I stepped out first, tailed by Ivy and Magenta. As we stared in awe at the skyscraper, Tony told his chauffer where to park and then we headed in. The entire tower was filled with shiny and expensive decorative, a taste that I was not accustom to, nor did I like.

We went up the elevator, past about 20 other floors that had who knows what on them, finally stopping on a hotel like floor. It had a comforting air to it, as if the atmosphere itself was saying "welcome home."

A few minutes later, the others came up and got situated, sitting on the couch in front of the T.V., or in the dining area.

"Alright," Tony began." Let's get you all to your new rooms." Once again, he led us back to the elevator, this time leading to a floor that looked more like a condo with extra rooms.

Magenta and I shared a room that was certainly luxurious. A burnt orange trimming on cream colored walls. Our very own flat screen TV mounted on a wall opposite of the two queen sized beds. One with a light orange cover, the other with a baby blue. It had quite a homey feeling to it.

After getting situated, we met back up with the others on Floor 22, as I had now found out. Steve and Thor were watching TV, now on commercial. Tony and Bruce were conversing together once again about science, or so it seemed, until Tony noticed our presence.

He smiled. "So make yourselves at home. You are gonna be here a while. I'll be sure to give you all a full tour later." Shuffle went to go sit next to Steve, now interested in their show as well. Magenta went back to our room, and Ivy was nowhere to be found.

"What do you have to drink around here?" I asked the owner of the empire. He chuckled.

"Well, we have water or melted ice. Your pick." He said with that same smirk. Out of all of the things I witnessed today, I was certain about only one thing.

Tony Stark and I would _not _be getting along.


	5. Chapter 5: A Long day

Topaz POV

After a few days of intensive training exercises and a few nights of comforting Snowflower and putting up with the ever so chatty Chauncey, I was beginning to question if we'd actually ever get out of here. Not that I'd admit my uncertainty to my last two warehouse mates.

Without my sparring partner for training every day, I let my mind wander as I completed the day's obstacle courses, careful about my healing wounds. I especially wondered about where all of my friends were taken to- particularly King and the others. The two who came to collect Ivy and Firefly were obviously the ones that the two were supposed to go with.

But what about those Germans? What did they want with King and the others? The more I thought about it the more I realized that King was very calm when they took him. He went without protest, very much unlike him to do, considering that he was often reluctant to go _anywhere _without his little sister.

It was about five days later that the agents finally came to get the three of us. Though it wasn't the same two who came to see us before, instead the two who came to pick up Ivy and Firefly graced us with their presence again to take us away.

Following the usual routine of being taken out of our cages and a bracelet snapped to our wrists (even Chauncey, who was asleep at the time, was carried by the male foreigner on his back), we were led out into the desert evening where an interesting surprise was waiting for us.

We were taking a helicopter.

I had only ever been in the air once, and I only vaguely remember it. I think it was an airplane, I remember looking out of a tiny window only to see rushing water falling down into a sharp rock pool below. We were flying away from a large waterfall, the gallons of clear water dropping down into the pool, forming into a stream.

We simply stood outside, me taking in the sight of the plain black chopper while the adults stood, conversing about the events leading up to now. One question happened to catch in my small black cat ears;

"Do you know what's happened to Dr. Harris? Director Steele is frustrated that we haven't heard anything from him in days."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the red haired woman trying to hold back a smirk-and succeeding mostly- while the man simply shook his head and shrugged. I had a feeling that the professor was on a long leave of absence- a very long one.

By now I had noticed that Snow hadn't said anything at all, and while at first I thought it was because it was very nearly around seven or eight at night, a time that she usual slept at, though she wasn't particularly chatty at any time of day.

She was staring at the ground the whole time, long white hair covering her faded blue eyes. Shuffling her scandal clad feet, Snowflower was radiating cold air off of her pale skin, despite the musky heat of the desert.

Suddenly, a light shove was given to my back and the grey eyed man was gently pushing us toward the helicopter, the blades on the top beginning to pick up speed, throwing sand around it. We got inside and sat down, Snowflower sitting next to the blonde haired man clad entirely in black, who placed Chauncey down on the seat. The Tasmanian devil boy was well known ability to sleep through anything.

Other than the pilot, it was only us four sitting across from each other. Snow still wasn't saying anything, no doubt afraid of what would happen to us, and had curled up into the seat, eyes staring blankly into the floor. Seeing how she had taken to playing the "silent game", I decided to ask our unspoken questions.

"Who are you, and where are you taking us?" I addressed the man. But it was the scarlet haired woman who spoke.

"I'm Agent Romanov, this is Agent Barton, and we are taking you to the SHIELD Helicarrier." She finished the very short introductions and crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat as she did so. She was also in an all-black cat suit, complete with a gun belt and black fingerless leather gloves.

Being one of the top experiments, I was given generally the best clothing, fashion wise anyway. But sitting next to Romanov, an elite woman from the way she holds herself, I felt so plain in my red sleeveless jacket, dark gray ripped jeans and shoeless. I hated shoes.

But back to the matter at hand…

"What's a Helicarrier?" Snowflower's voice was so light and soft; I had to strain my own expert hearing to know what she said. "You'll see." Barton said with a knowing glance.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, the helicopter landed with a soft 'click' of metal upon metal, indicating that we were finally at this "Helicarrier". Once we stepped off, I thought maybe we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in a high tech sci-fi movie. Once again, Barton was carrying the lazy boy who despite everything, _still _hadn't woken up. He's gonna be so confused when he wakes up tomorrow.

The Helicarrier was a giant ship, floating in what I assumed to be the Pacific Ocean. Surrounding us, people were scurrying from one place to another, preparing for something. We followed the agents into the ship, expecting it to be a submarine.

Inside, a giant base of operations, complete with so many computers and high tech equipment that it could make a technician cry. I was surprised that these agents were at the top of their game, despite it being well past dark by now. Snowflower and I stood there for another 20 minutes, waiting for someone to give us an action to do and trying hard not to fall asleep on our feet, to which the younger of us was very close to achieving.

Finally we followed Agent Romanov to what seemed to be a medical bay, with small beds and cabinets filled with bottles and needles. Snowflower and I each sat on a bed, waiting for the doctor to come in and start a medical evaluation.

She started with Snow, checking for any injuries first. The minute she touched her hand to the ice-powered girl's cold skin, she flinched. Grabbing a thermometer from the table next to her, she made Snow open her mouth and took her temperature. Following the beep of the device, she checked the reading on it, eyes widening a bit at the result.

Taking out a notebook, she wrote a few things down, and then moved on. She checked her eyes, teeth, ears and heart rate before moving on to me.

She went through the same procedure, checking my cat ears and tail also. Scribbling something down again on her little notebook, she decided that we were finished for now and to get some sleep. Stepping outside of the medical bay, we followed Romanov down a long passageway, stopping at a glass panel door leading to a large cafeteria.

Inside, Agent Barton was explaining something to a bewildered boy with two small ears peeking out of his tousled black we stepped in to join them, Chauncey'e eyes lit up at the sight of sat down, curious about the food in front of us. The table was filled with many different kinds of food, from fish and chips, to cheeseburgers, an all American treat that neither Snow nor Chauncey ever had the chance to eat. His dark eyes danced around the table, taking in the sight of every food there. He pointed at the dish in front of him.

"What's that?" "That's sushi. Its pretty much raw fish." Barton answered him. The boy proceeded to point at each dish, asking about each one before taking one of everything.

I dug right in, filling my plate with one of each food as well. Chauncey followed right after, trying the chocolate pudding from the bowl in the middle first. Immediately, his dark brown eyes lit up at the mildly sweet and creamy treat, inspiring him to try something else from the mini feast.

Snowflower didn't seem as enticed by the sweets as he did, instead taking a few fruits to fill up on. As we ate, we were interrupted by the sound of the glass door sliding, indicating a new body in the otherwise deserted lunchroom.

Turning to look, I saw a large man dressed in all black, his skin not much darker than my own. He works an eye patch over one eye, a scar crossing behind it. He came up to Agent Barton and handed him three manila folders, each with writing on them, most likely names. His posture held an air of power around it. Just by the way he held himself, I could see that he was powerful, respected and collected at all times. The kind of person I wanted to be.

"These are their files. We're also trying to track down the Germans, as they've taken the last three." His voice was a bit husky, to go along with his dark disposition.

Barton took them and nodded, glancing at each one before placing it on the table.

There was a soft thud, and we all turned to see that the day had finally taken its toll on Snow. She was out like a light, snoozing with her head on her plate, a little grape vine tangled in her albino locks.

As Romanov tried to untangle the branch in her hair, the black clad man turned and walked away. "Take them to the extra agents' quarters. You can take them to Stark International in the morning." He said and left the room.

"Who was that?" Chauncey inquired. Agent Barton answered him. "That's General Fury; he's the director of SHIELD." We finished up our dinner and, with me now carrying Snow, Chauncey and I followed Romanov to the sleeping quarters.

* * *

We got settled in our shared room, complete with a flat screen TV and Chauncey taking one bed and me sharing one with the exhausted Snowflower. As I lay the girl softly onto the bed, Chauncey was curious about the TV, never having seen one before.

"What's with the black box?" he asked, staring at it as if it held the universe. Grabbing the remote from the nightstand between us, I told him. "It's a television set." I flicked it on.

Images ran across the screen, a digitalized wedding appearing. I was a movie of some sorts. "Hey!" The curious boy half whispered, half shouted, mindful of Snowflower still sleeping. "How did those people get in the box?"

"They're not in the box; it's just a video recording." At his blank stare, I continued. "There's a special place where the people are watched by a camera, and whatever the camera sees, we can see from the TV." I tried to elaborate.

He nodded. "Okay I get it." _No you don't. _I flicked the channels, looking for something, anything, to watch until it watched me. Finally, I found a colorful cartoon show for us to see, as Chauncey the child adored anything with bright colors and fast moving things.

Settling down on the soft comforter next to Snow, I fell into a deep sleep until morning.

_It was one of the few memories that I had before they took us when I was six._

_I had gotten bored with sitting around our hotel room in a city that I had never been to, so I left and went exploring. Turning down winding passageways and avoiding falling into the deep canals, I finally found myself lost._

_I was just about ready to cry when a boy found me and offered his help. Following him, we quickly found our way back to the hotel I was staying in with my family. He couldn't have been much older than me, maybe around 7 years old._

_We were now sitting on the street in front of the hotel, feet dangling over the canal in Venice. Mom and dad had business here for a short while. For what, I couldn't remember, nor did I care. I didn't care about much then, only about having fun with my new friend I had made here for the short time that I would know him._

_We were deciding on what to do on a hot day in summer. Normally when I was bored, I would go to my mother and ask her what to do. But with her at work- or more like taking care of my 2 year old baby sister while trying to work - she was out of the question._

_Finally, he came up with an idea. He gave me a personal tour of Venice, showing me all of the hot spots and where to stay away from, all from the comfort of a long black wooden Gondola. We sat next to each other, him pointing out things from all sides of us._

_We laughed and told each other about ourselves. His name was Faustino. Faustino Calabretta, a name he seemed proud of. His brown hair was long and shaggy, dark curls reaching down to his shoulders, framing his tan face. He held so much excitement in his hazel green eyes. I had never met anyone so excited to meet me. Or maybe that's the way he acted with everybody he met._

_It still made me feel good. The gondolier stopped at a fork in the path, one way headed to a deeper part of the city, farther than Faustino had been to, the other circling back down to the canal leading to the hotel. He chose the first path saying things like "Trying to take the road less traveled right, bella?" or "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."_

_Turned out that there really was something to be gained going down that road. The gondolier dropped us off at a mini port where more of the boats were docked, and we found a wonderful restaurant. Using the euros that he said his uncle gave him, Faustino bought us a cheesecake, calling it "Cassata alla Siciliana" or Sicilian cheesecake._

_I adored the taste of, relishing the feeling as it slipped down my tongue and into my stomach. We stayed in the shop until the sun sent rays of gold and orange running along the water before we hailed for another gondola and made it back to the hotel._

_My parents were furious that I had left the hotel room, asking where I went. I told them of the adventure I had with Faustino, my newly acquired friend, and of the delicious dessert he treated me with._

_By the end of my story, the angry looks on their faces melted into amusement and they forgave me, so long as I made sure someone knew where I was going next time._

_We quickly left Italy behind, just three days after my adventure with Faustino. I was afraid of losing my good friend and went to go see him again one last time. This time, he had a gift for me. It was a small, silver compass. He joked about me getting lost again._

_I never told him that I was leaving. I wouldn't like the look on his face when he heard about his new friend leaving so quickly. I was afraid of seeing the look of sadness on his face._

_Later, when the University took us, they stripped us from all of our possessions, including the compass that I had held onto so dearly for so long, now attached to a silver chain to turn into a necklace._

_When they experimented on me, I cried. I cried from the physical pain. I cried from the fear of what was happening to my sister now._

_I cried from the guilt of not telling my only friend goodbye._

* * *

_Wow! I made it to Chapter 5!_

_I had been thinking about this all day, and all throughout school. I was kind of hard to concentrate on schoolwork with ideas constantly running through my mind. Anyway, I'm really thankful to those who keep reading on through this story and reviewing. You don't know how much your simple imput on my story inspires me to keep with this story. Thank you._

_Another question to reply about: What do you prefer in a story? Adventure? Humor? Maybe even romance?_

_"My imagination is a monastery, and I am its monk" ~John Keats_

_~EndingDream~_


	6. Chapter 6: Tour De NY

Flight to Freedom Chapter 6

Firefly POV:

It had really only been one full day since we had been ushered and welcomed into Stark tower. Me and the others spent the whole of yesterday following Stark around to each level of the empire, there being about 98, just a few shy of the Empire State building, or so I'm told.

After listening to a few ground rules being set during dinner (in which we got our first taste of pizza), everyone retired to their rooms for the night.

The next day was special. Tony was taking us on our own personal tour of New York City. Somehow he managed to drag Steve and Pepper, who we met yesterday along too. Magenta, the only one staying behind with Bruce, was lying on her bed, cloak still covering her features.

I picked out my outfit for the day, folding my wings to hide along the folds of the clothing. I wore a light blue t-shirt, with a light gray jacket and navy clam diggers. I stepped in front of the large mirror on the closet door, turning around to look at myself.

"What do you think, Magenta?" I addressed the girl immersed in the TV set. The dark blue hood glanced over. "Why do you care about how you look? No one else will." She turned back to the TV, mesmerized by the people moving across the box.

I think that deep, deep down… she's a pessimist.

After that happy note, I left the room to meet the others downstairs. Ivy and Shuffle were already down in the lobby, the first floor. Ivy wore a dark green hoodie with black jeans and shoes, bronze bracelets adorning her wrists. Shuffle's attire included a plain white polo shirt, light gray jeans, and black sneakers. He pretty much looked like the grayscale threw up on him.

It was a few minutes until Steve came down alone. After a short greeting from him, he stood awkwardly to the side of the room, gazing at the fancy furniture.

I felt a push behind me. It was Ivy. "Well… go talk to him." She said. I stared back. "Why me?"

She glanced at Shuffle and he nodded. "Well, we decided that you're our spokesperson."

_Spokesperson? What the flip does that mean? _Before I could turn around, Steve had already walked over to our group, hovering over us.

"Uh," He started, "What do you like to do for fun?" He started an icebreaker. I turned around to look at him fully now, giving him one of my brightest smiles.

"I love telling stories!" I chirped. Steve nodded.

Shuffle asked me, "What kind of stories?" He seemed deeply interested in the idea.

"Stories about adventure. Creating a new, undiscovered land to explore. Never knowing what's out there until you see for yourself." When it came to stories, I loved telling them more than listening about them. The idea of creating your own characters, finding your own storyline, and telling of adventures was always more appealing to me than anything else.

Shuffle seemed to be pleased with my response. " I liked drawing. I don't remember much of my life before the University, but I do remember having a sketchbook. I loved being able to see things in my mind and recreate them on to paper for everyone else to see."

Steve nodded and looked to Ivy. "What about you?" Ivy closed her eyes in thought, arms folded. She kept them closed as she gave her response.

I never had a true hobby. Though, I did like taking apart the pens that the white coats would leave around and see if I could make them into something else."

A moment after, Tony came down the elevator, adjusting his black leather jacket as he stepped up to us, Pepper following. After another short greeting, we stepped outside, where a long black limousine was parked. Tony opened his arms dramatically as we looked to the skyline.

"Welcome, to New York City."

* * *

Topaz POV

Getting Snowflower to sleep last night was deemed a much easier task than actually getting her up in the morning. Chauncey was peacefully snoring into his pillow, thin tail sticking into the air, when the Agents called us to get up.

Still a bit drowsy, I moved over to Chauncey's bed to wake him up first. Knowing that he also was not a morning person, I grabbed his small black tail and yanked him off of the bed, on to the floor.

Blindly tumbling around on the ground, the Tasmanian devil boy scrambled to get the blue comforter untangled from his body. Wide gray eyes looked back at me as Chauncey sat dumbfounded on the floor.

Turning back to the other bed, Snowflower was still dreaming peacefully under the covers, wrapped up like a burrito. With such a cute smile on her childish face, I almost resented waking up the poor albino haired girl.

_Almost._

Grabbing a corner of the covers, I noticed Chauncey's eyes widen at what I was about to do. "Oh, No." He said.

I smirked. "Oh, yes." I one swift movement, I yanked the covers from around Snowflower, effectively spinning her like a barrel, as she landed back on the uncovered bed. Much like Chauncey did, pale blue eyes looked around wildly, trying to comprehend what happened.

Without giving her a chance to speak, I let go of the covers and walked toward the door. "C'mon, we're going." "Where to?" She asked. I didn't answer as I opened the door, revealing the two agents from last night.

The man, Barton, smiled. "Morning bedheads." I looked back at my two companions. He was right, Snow's hair was partly over one eye, strands sticking out at odd angles. Chauncey didn't look much different.

Romanov spoke this time. "Time to meet up with the others." She said. Chauncey, who was now squeezing into the doorframe with me, lit up. "The others? Like Firefly and Ivy?" Barton nodded.

"Hey Snow! Did 'ja hear that? We're gonna see the others again!" He squeaked with happiness. Snowflower nodded, sending a glare at his voice pitch. "Of course I heard, Chauncey. I hear a lot."

The boy leaned away from Snow, remembering to be afraid of her icy Snow Stare. Romanov gave a little smile and turned, leading the way outside.

After following the SHIELD agents down the dark colored hallways of the Helicarrier and outside, we piled into the SUV waiting for us outside. When we got settled, Agent Barton took two pieces of cloth out of the glove compartment and tossed them to Chauncey and I.

Chauncey looked at them in curiosity, turning the dark gray fabric around in his hands. "What's this?" He asked.

"It's a beanie. You wear it on your head." I answered before Barton could. Mine was black with a white stripe lining the bottom. I placed it on my head, making sure that my cat ears were covered completely.

Chauncey still looked confused. "Why do we have to wear them?" "To cover your ears." "Why?"

Romanov sighed. "Because normal people don't have animal ears and we want to keep you away from the news and HRS for a long as possible." The boy looked over at Snow, who was staring out the window at the city skyline.

He frowned at the girl's blank stare. "Normal people also don't have white hair." At that, Snow glanced at Chauncey, head still pointed toward the window. Romanov crossed her arms, seemingly tired of the boy already. I couldn't blame her.

"You're right. But it's easier to write off that you dyed your hair than it is to explain why you have 2 sets of ears." Romanov made a valuable statement.

Chauncey still didn't seem convinced, but he let it go for now. After a little while, we stopped in front of a large tower, the word "STARK" placed on the very top in bright blue lettering. We stepped out of the car and went into the large building.

In the elevator, we went past a series of floors, finally stopping at the top. There, we walked into a living area, complete with a kitchen, dining room, and couches surrounding a large TV.

I was startled by a British accent filling the room. "Welcome back, Ms. Romanov and Mr. Barton. Shall I alert Dr. Banner of your presence?" It asked. Barton smiled at our astounded faces looking for the body that the voice should've belonged to.

"That would be nice Jarvis." Barton said to the voice. "Where are the others?" "Mr. Stark and the others have gone out for a tour of New York City." Snow finally asked the question we were all wondering.

"Where is that voice coming from?" She asked her own voice soft as usual. Barton smiled wider; he seemed to smile a lot. "Jarvis is the AI system that runs the entire building." "You place all of the duties of the house, on artificial intelligence?"

"I'll have you know that I am quite effective, Miss." The AI spoke again. Barton led us to the dining table, setting down the files he had all along.

"This," He passed out each of ours, "is all of the information that the University had gathered from your lives before and the data from the experimentation."

We looked at each other before opening them. Surprisingly, they were in English. Photos of me before and after the experiments were there. In the few weeks of experimenting on me, I had gone from being a scared, scrawny girl with brown eyes and curly hair, to a black cat eared and tailed girl with piercing orange-yellow eyes and very sharp nails.

Next, I looked at the papers.

According to this information, My name is Katanya Alastaire. I am the daughter of Amaka Turay-Alastaire and am the older sister of Kyla Alastaire. My birthday is on June 23, and I am 14 years old. I get my African heritage from my mom's side, as she was a Kenyan. She's still alive but her location is unknown. Then there was just random stuff on Ivy's relationship with me.

After reading through the rest of the information in the folder, I found a plain silver CD with my real name on it between two pages. I set the folder back down on the table, twirling the CD on my finger. Snowflower was still looking through hers, and Chauncey finished before I did.

Barton looked back at me and Chauncey. "Well, are you satisfied about your history now?" Chauncey seemed pleased with what he found out about his past.

I still had a few more questions that went unanswered.

'Where was my mother now?'

'What was on the CD?'

And the most unnerving

_'Why is there no information on who my father was?'_

* * *

End of Chapter 6!

Sorry it took so long to put up. I've had to study for a lot of final exams coming up.

Thank you all for waiting so long!

"There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds." ~G.K. Chesterton


	7. Chapter 7: Expect the Unexpected

Our first stop on our New York City "tour" was Central Park. Tony said it was one of, if not the most, famous and visited in America. Apparently thousands of people come to this extremely large park each day.

Pepper had gone out of her way to make a small picnic for us. As we ate, I looked around the serene park. It was nearing fall now, so the leaves on the trees were turning beautiful colors of orange-yellow and red. All around us, children were playing with each other as their parents watched and talked from their places on the benches.

I began to wonder what it was like to have a family. I knew that I had one before the University, but I couldn't remember anything about my past. What would it be like? Would I have a brother or sister to play with? Would my parents be watching us, smiling underneath the shade of the trees? Maybe we would have a family pet, like a dog.

I caught Shuffle also looking longingly out at the happy families as the others chatted about where to go next. Was he also wondering about not being alone anymore? He seemed to be very wary around other people. Maybe he preferred to be alone sometimes.

I was brought out of my reverie by Tony speaking. "Hey Wonderfluff," I turned to him. "Care to imput your opinion?" He smirked. 'Wonderfluff?' "Um, this park is really nice. It's no wonder that it's so popular." I responded, really wanting to wipe that patronizing smirk off of his face.

He chuckled. "I was talking about the Toy store." "Huh?" I clearly missed something in this conversation. Ivy filled me in. "Pepper says that there's a toy store somewhere around here. It's really big. Do you want to go?" As far as I can remember, I had never been in a toy store before so of course I agreed to go.

Finishing up our picnic, Pepper and I packed up while the others talked with each other. Or more likely, Ivy trying to understand where Steve stood in the picture of the Avengers while Tony tried to get Shuffle to open up more. Tony called for his limo and we piled in again, eager to see more of the city.

* * *

The drive to the toy store was only a few minutes long, so we hadn't had much of a wait as the driver pulled up to the large glass doors of the "Wishing Star" Toy Emporium. The moment we stepped in we were assaulted by the fun loving atmosphere of the place.

Model planes and other aircraft hung by wires from the ceiling, gently moving from the A/C vents. Children of all ages played with their companions, whether it was dressing up dolls, racing RC cars, or just doing magic tricks with cards.

The sound of video-games playing drew Ivy towards the back of the store, where half of the wall was covered by TVs. Shuffle went to observe the magic tricks by the employee demonstrator. Leaving me to explore around the entire store. I found myself standing near the colorful child playhouses. Two girls around my age were already playing, going into each house, trying to find each other.

Upon seeing me, one of the girls called the other one out of her hiding place. They seemed to be twins, both with blonde hair in pigtails and sundresses. The "seeker" in the game came up to me. "Hi!" Her voice was warm and bubbly, like Chauncey's was but more feminine and less annoying. "My name is Emily." She pulled her sister w next to her.

"This is my sister Amelia." Amelia mumbled a shy hello with a small smile. "What's your name?" "I, uh… Faith." I lied out of nervousness. Besides, "firefly" in this part of the world is a bug, not an acceptable name. I remember in the park that a parent called a little girl by that name.

"So, Faith," Emily said. "Do you wanna play hide and go seek with us?" Hide and seek was one of the few games that I knew. I used to play it a lot back at the University. Although back there it was more like "hide and pray that you don't get caught before the training session is over."

Emily quickly went over the boundaries of the game. "You can hide anywhere between the stuffed animal area and the train sets." That was about a 25 foot area. Emily put her hand on the brown door of the plastic playhouse. "This is base. If you get here before I find you, then you don't have to be it. Okay?" Me and Amelia nodded.

Smiling, Emily turned back to the playhouse, closing her eyes and counting. Quickly, the two of us scrambled to different places, not to be found. I made my way to behind one of the stuffed animal shelves. As she finished counting to 20, Emily went the opposite direction to find us. I ran over to the first playhouse, crouching down as Emily glanced back. Her bright eyes scanned the area before she kept walking.

Just as I began running toward base again, something shot out and grabbed my hand, tugging me into one of the larger playhouses before the wooden door closed behind me. Losing my balance, I would've fallen to the ground if it hadn't been for the person who grabbed me as they once again pulled me up.

"Hey, can't you see I'm trying to…" the words died on my lips as I turned around to meet two seemingly glowing green eyes. The person who grabbed me towered over me, perhaps as tall as Topaz was.

It was a girl with dark red hair and light skin. She wore a black leather jacket with an odd marking on the breast pocket and a bright orange shirt underneath along with black jeans and combat boots.

"Who are you?" I asked. The girl smirked deviously. "The name's Rikki. Rikki Scarlet." "Okay Rikki, what do you want?"

"Midnight, tonight. Come to the warehouse by the Brooklyn Bridge and I'll tell you everything you need to know. My friends will lead you to the spot, alright? And don't bring anyone." She said.

"And if I don't come?" She leaned against the wooden wall. "Trust me; you will if you want to see King."

My eyes widened. "Wait, how do you know King? And how did he get out of the University? And what about Snowflower? She has a right to know about-"Rikki clasped a hand over my mouth. "Man, you sure talk a lot, don't you? Just come down to the warehouses alone." She removed her hand and slipped out of the playhouse.

I stood there for a second before I rushed out the door, colliding with someone. "Ow, oh, found you, Faith!" I opened my eyes to see Emily hovering over me, Amelia right behind her. "But I found Amelia first. Have you been hiding there the entire time?"

I nodded. Soon enough, Pepper found me and said that we spent too much time in the store. It was nearly dinnertime, so we gathered up the others and went back to Stark International. Sitting on the couch was another unexpected person. Actually three.

"Topaz!" Ivy cried upon seeing her sister lounging on the large leather love-seat. A soft hello from Snowflower and a tackle from Chauncey later, we found ourselves looking over the rest of our profiles, each of us finding a CD wedged between the pages of the information. All of the CDs were scratched, but Tony sent them to Jarvis's system area to be cleaned.

The CDs would take a few days to clean and recover the information, so meanwhile we went through each other's profiles and talked over dinner. Chauncey told about the television and how the little people stuck in the "magical" box could be very entertaining. I could tell that the boy was not only getting to Topaz, but also to Natasha with the way he talked on and on.

After going through each profile, we decided to try calling each other by our real names. My given name was Marley. Ivy was now "Kyla", and Chauncey's name was now Alek. Snowflower's real name was Lucy, Magenta's name was Margaret, but she preferred to stay "Magenta".

Topaz also kept her nickname in rejection of being called "Katanya" and Shuffle, now Apollo, didn't mind being called by both names. Oddly enough, like Topaz, small pieces of each of our profiles were missing too. Though I had a list of who my parents were, Snow didn't have any information about either parent, only that both are deceased. After a while, "Kyla" asked about the others. "Why aren't the others with you? What happened to King?"

Topaz frowned. "Before we left, him, Moonah, and Leo were all taken. I think they were taken by Germans." Suddenly, I lost my appetite. Topaz also seemed to be deep in thought. By time dinner was finished, it was nearing 11 o'clock. Tony said that we would finish our tour of the city tomorrow. After a few quick rearrangements of rooms (Ivy wanted to be in the same room as her sister), we went off to bed.

Magenta and I both got ready for bed, changing into our pajamas and climbing into bed. After another 30 minutes, I heard soft snoring from the cloak wearing girl, finally gone to sleep. It was a wonder how she slept in the thick fabric, and why.

Deciding not to dwell on the subject any longer, I silently got out of bed and put my clothes back on, this time also wearing a black jacket. I slipped out of the room and into the elevator, going up to the roof. I was startled by a kind British voice.

"Ms. Marley, might I ask where you are going?" I calmed myself again. I had forgotten about Jarvis, Tony's AI system. It was weird. Jarvis runs his house while Pepper runs his life. "I'm just getting some fresh air and I'd be very grateful if you didn't tell anyone about this." The AI said nothing as I walked out into the cool air of Night time New York.

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I was startled to pull something out. It was s crumpled up post card, a picture of the Brooklyn bridge, by the name on the card. Flipping it over, the only thing on the back was a drawing of a skull with an arrow wedged between its teeth. It was, of course, signed by Rikki Scarlet. I shoved it back into my pocket, now knowing what the bridge looked like.

When I made it to the edge of the roof, I sucked in a breath. The skyline was beautiful, and the lights made it all the more worth seeing. Shaking myself out of shock, I unfolded my tan wings, stretching them before I took off toward the large bridge, hoping that it was the Brooklyn Bridge.

It only took me a few minutes to make it to the bridge, the sign leading to it stating its name in large white letters. "Brooklyn Bridge." Landing on the soft sand beside the bridge, I looked around for the warehouse.

Suddenly, I found myself sandwiched between Rikki and another guy around my height. Both were grinning like they had just been sat in front of a large feast. Rikki spoke up. "Well, well, you aren't as spineless as I thought. You actually showed up and all alone too. I'm impressed with how good you follow the rules."

The dark haired guy only gave a hollow laugh. "You're a good girl, aren't ya, lightning bug?" He mocked. "Hey," I snarled at him. "My name's Marley for your information, and I only came to get answers so shove off!" I manage to rip my arm from his grasp only to bump my head on the door of the warehouse that we were at now.

Rikki gave another mocking smirk and laugh before grabbing my arm again and leading me into the dare warehouse. We got to the middle of the warehouse when we made it to a clearing, framed by crates stacked on top of each other and lighted by electric lanterns on top of the surrounding boxes.

There was a circle of people, around the ages of 10 and 15 seemingly. They all wore all black save for Rikki, another boy in black and lime green, and the boy standing in the middle of the circle, between two other people.

It was Leo and Moonah, their eyes wide with wonder and another emotion that I couldn't place.

And King standing in the midst of it all.

* * *

AN: I am really sorry that it took so long to get the next chapter out. Now that I'm in high school, I had to study hard to pass all of my finals. But I did pass them all with flying colors and now that its summer you can expect a lot more updating!

Please don't forget to review. It lets me know that people are still reading my story.

Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.~ Albert Einstein


	8. Chapter 8: Recruitment?

Firefly/ Marley POV

Have you ever heard of a fox trap? Hunters use them all the time when dealing with foxes or even wolves too. Foxes are naturally clever animals and they can easily evade the traps without a second thought.

So why do they get trapped in them?

Because they're curious. They want answers as to what it does, not know what it may lead to.

I think I just fell into my own type of fox trap. Surrounded by crates and people in the dark warehouse, midnight found me standing in front of my "missing" friends King, Moonah, and Leo. The two younger friends stood right behind King, Moonah, obviously excited to see me again, while Leo looked to be uncomfortable with the setting.

King took a step forward. "You shouldn't look so surprised to see me, Firefly. After all, Rikki mentioned me, didn't she?" I glanced over to the girl, her blue and brown eyes staring me down. "Yeah, she might have mentioned it once."

I looked back to the cat-boy. "What is this all about? And how did you know even know that I would be in that toy store?" He smirked. "Patience, and all will be told soon. Right now, I have another matter to discuss."

Moonah stepped up next to him, her golden hair curling down her shoulders, shorter than mine. "We have a plan to take down the University!" She threw her hands up as if it were a party.

My eyes widened in shock. "Take down the University, how?" King walked until her could put his arm around my shoulders, leading me back outside alone. I began to get nervous about what kind of plan he had in mind.

After closing the doors to the warehouse, we walked along the rocky shore of the East River. I began to get nervous from the silence. "King, what's this all about?" He turned, looking out across the river, where boats floated peacefully tied to the docks.

"You're staying with those people from SHIELD, right?" He looked at me from the corner of his eye while I nodded. "We're living with a group called the Avengers." King walked farther along the shoreline as I followed closely behind.

We stopped again when we came to the base of the bridge. "What are they like?" King's voice sounded distant as he stared on. "Uh, well, there's Tony Stark. He can be sarcastic at times and he's really rich and smart like Ivy. Then there are the two SHIELD Agents, Barton and Romanov. They tend to stick together a lot.

"There's also the super soldier, Steve Rodgers. They say that he's almost a hundred years old, but he doesn't look any older than 20. He's also really strong. And there's Bruce Banner, or the Hulk. He's really nice when he's not angry or stressed.

"Thor is a part of the Avengers also but he doesn't live in the tower. But he still visits us from time to time. He has this huge hammer that only he can pick up."

I swear that at that last part, King seemed a bit scared, but he knows how to keep his cool well. After a moment, he finally spoke. "I do have a plan for taking down the University, but I can't tell you unless you come with us. How is Topaz, by the way?" I was unprepared for the sudden subject change. "Uh, sh-she's fine, I guess." He only nodded.

I felt confused. "So, come where with you?" He stared me down again, ice blue eyes burning into my violet ones. "My team, we're based in Hamburg, Germany. That's where we train under the guidance of our captains, Frantz, Nora and our Chancellor, Phoenix. If you want to help take down the University, you'd have to train alongside the best."

I lost myself in thought. Could I really leave my friends here in New York while I traveled and trained in another country? Can I just go off with King, whom everyone is worried about and fly away? But on the other hand, is it really easy to pass up an opportunity to keep our safety secured? I can't just go back to the tower and pretend that nothing happened.

I thought back to the dream I had before. The one where I was struck by an arrow. As I recall, the insignia on the jackets of King's accomplices was a skull with a red arrow lodged in its teeth. Maybe my dream really did mean something. I wanted to know more about this "training" going on and about the big plan. After all, curiosity killed the cat… but satisfaction brought it back.

"I accept." King stopped before the warehouse doors, turning back to me. I raised my head, sweeping the strands of brown hair from my face. He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder again. "Let's meet the rest of your new team, okay?" Nodding, I followed him back inside the dimly lit area.

Everyone turned to look at me, some smiling, and some frowning. It was obvious that there were some mixed opinions about my joining. Moonah was glad that an old friend was joining, as she jumped up to give me a huge hug when I made it to the middle of the circle.

King beckoned over Rikki and a boy wearing the uniform black leather jacket and pants but with a bright green shirt, while Rikki wore a blood red one. "I am the commander of this team. Rikki is my Lt. alongside Badger." Badger, true to his name, looked like he could, and wanted, to tear me apart in one move.

"When we get back, Rikki will be your trainer." "WHAT?!" I and my "trainer" shouted at the same time. King glared daggers back at us.

"Is that a problem?" I shook my head no, but Rikki wasn't finished yet. "Now, hold up! I don't wanna be stuck with this oversized hummingbird! Why don't you take her since you know her so well?" I almost thought her bicolored eyes were actually glowing with rage.

King smirked. "Because you get along so well, I thought you two might become great friends, that is, if you don't kill each other first." Rikki puffed out her cheeks, making herself look effectively like a puffer fish without the spikes.

Finally, she calmed down, letting out a sigh of defeat. Badger put a large hand on her. "If you want, I'll train the tyke." Rikki shook her head, standing straight again. "Naw, king asked me to train her, so that's just what I'll do. Besides, don't you already have your hands full with Moonah?"

Just then, said girl crushed me from behind in another bear hug, her golden monkey tail swinging behind her wildly. "Oh, Firefly, I'm so glad that you're coming with us!" As I smiled back at her, King stood up on top of the crates, where everyone could see him clearly.

"Alright everyone, let's get back to the jet. We've got a lot to do before the Takeover." Everyone (around 15 people in all) began piling out of the warehouse, towards the river. About five minutes down the river, there were two large white yachts docked on our side of the river. While me, Rikki, Moonah and two other boys followed King onto the first boat, the others piled onto the second.

After everyone was on the wooden deck of their respectable boat, they set sail for the ocean. As Rikki followed King inside to the cabin, I stuck to the deck with Moonah and the two other boys.

"Moonah," Said girl glanced at me, smiling as usual. "How did you end up being trained for this "mission"? I asked. Letting out a small sigh, Moonah turned back to look over the moonlit river. "To be honest, I don't remember much.

* * *

~FlashBack~

"_Get off me!" the howler monkey girl scratched at the person handling her. Using her long nails, Moonah clawed at the perpetrator's face before he pulled something out of his pocket. Before she knew it, the small bracelet attached to her hand shot out a small needle into her wrist, temporarily paralyzing her._

_Now dazed, everything seemed to move in a blur. She was gracelessly flung over someone's shoulder and carried out into the sunlight. The last thing she heard before passing out was the sound of a helicopter. _

_After hours of flight, Moonah was woken up by the feeling of being carried. Looking at her surroundings, she found that they were in some type of building, a hotel it looked like. A dark hotel. Shadows on the wall indicated that there were more people in front of us._

_Suddenly the blonde girl was thrown on the ground, landing right next to a frightened Leo. Looking to her left, King was staring straight ahead, fearful of what lay in front of them. Carefully, Moonah got up, slowly turning to the three figures in front of them._

_In the middle of two tough looking body guards clothed in black, stood a tall figure clothed in a floor length white hooded vest and a tea length black dress, tied to the cloak with a bright blue belt. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Overall, she was as beautiful as a supermodel without being so thin._

_She gave a small smile, spreading a warm, homey feeling over the dark hallway. She opened up her arms in a sweeping motion. "Welcome, I am Elissa, owner of this hotel. Come, we have much to show you."_

_Somewhere along the way, the brutes that brought them there disappeared. The three willingly followed Elissa, captivated by her kind voice and appearance. She led them down a long set of stairs. They went on until the bottom was finally below their tired feet. There, only the whiteness of Elissa's coat could be seen cutting through the darkness as it led the three away from the safety of the stairs._

_After following the cloak for a while, a bright light from a doorway finally shed light on the three children. As the oldest, King bravely stepped foot inside first, closely tailed by Moonah and Leo. They now stood inside what looked like an underground football stadium._

_Only two people occupied the seats within the large room. They wore identical clothing, almost like Elissa's except the colors were inverted and one wore white slacks and a shirt underneath his black cloak. The woman stood from her seat, addressing the three as she spoke._

"_Welcome to Germany, little ones. I am Captain Nora and this is Captain Figgy-""Frantz." The man interrupted. Nora gave a devious smile his way. Nervous, Leo tried in vain to hide behind Moonah before being comforted by the girl. "There, there. They can't hurt us." King stepped forward, curious to get answers. _

"_What are we doing here?" He asked defiantly. Frantz turned to walk down the stairs, past the wall separating them from the children. "You are here to train." "Training?" _

_Nora followed Frantz down and stood in front of King, towering over the fourteen year old. "Why yes. You're here to learn how to use your abilities and grow stronger so that you may fight for us." _

_King's eyes flared in anger. "I fight for no one but myself. No man, no council, no COUNTRY will ever tell me what to do or who to fight for!" Frowning the two captains shared a glance. Nora looked over to the other two children, Leo cowering behind the ever so curious Moonah._

"_And do you two feel the same way as this boy here?" Terrified, Leo shook his head no. "I do a bit, but I'm more curious as to what you mean by training?" Was Moonah's response. Frantz narrowed his eyes at King._

"_The Chancellor will want to meet with this one. He's got strong views." Nora nodded her head. Gently she grabbed King by the arm. "Come along, our superior must speak with you. If you don't struggle, then you'll be back with your friends sooner, okay?" Reluctantly, King went along with the woman. The two children watched as their own leader left them behind._

_Frantz turned back to the children. "Let's go. We must find you two trainers and a place to sleep." The two followed Frantz back the way they came, their curiosity and fear overpowering their fatigue._

"_Moonah," Leo whispered. "What do you think they're gonna do with us?" He seemed as small and afraid as the 7 year old that he was. His light green eyes and shaggy dark gray hair didn't make him look any older._

"_Leo, my sweet, I think the better question is 'what have we gotten into?'"_

_~Flashback End~_

Moonah ended her story on that note, letting her exhaustion show. She gave a weak smile. "Well, I'm going to my cabin to get some sleep. Bunk with me?" She asked hopefully. I smiled back. "Yeah. I'll stay up here a while, though. Don't worry, I can find you."

After one last goodbye, the monkey girl walked through the hallway inside the yacht. I looked back out toward the bright lights of the city. Even from here, I could see the very top of Stark Tower just above the other buildings around it.

I was beginning to regret at least not even leaving a not as to where I had gone. I even told Jarvis not to tell anyone, though he may not even listen to me. Either way, no one would know where I was now. Maybe when I finished my training, I could go back to New York and see them again and tell them about how we took down the University so no one has to suffer anymore.

Before I could react, I was thrown off of the deck of the boat, just barely catching the railing before my head slammed into the side of the yacht. Dazed, I looked up to see a shadow blocking the moonlight from where I hung dangerously onto the railing. I heard a dark, sinister chuckle before I was grabbed again by my back collar and thrown back onto the deck harshly.

The figure towered over me, as I lay there still in shock as a familiar female voice rang in my ears.

"Lesson one, always be on guard." Rikki had decided that my training had already begun. As I watched my trainer walk away I could only think of one thing:

"Oh, what have I gotten _myself _into?"

* * *

Chapter 8 End!

I'm so glad that this story is going along so smoothly!

just a little fun fact about this story: When I first started writing chapter one, I wasn't sure where to start it, whether I should make the entire story a huge flashback from before they made it to their new home, or even to put it in the antagonists' POV.

Please review and stay tuned for chapter 9!

~EndingDream6560

The power of imagination makes us infinite~John Muir


	9. Chapter 9: The Missing

**Topaz POV**

I had never slept in such a soft bed as the one I was on in my current room, shared with my little sister, Ivy. I could've enjoyed the rest a bit longer if it hadn't been for the alarms going off in the tower, and the sound of the AI system telling us to go to the main floor, where the master kitchen and rest area was.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself out of bed, my dark hair as ruffled as usual. I looked over to the other bed to find Ivy missing. Deciding that she must've slipped out of the room earlier, I got off of my fluffy bed and walked out of the room, not caring that I was only wearing a black tank top and sweat pants that I borrowed from Romanov.

Making my way to the elevator, I pressed the button for the 20th floor, directly in the middle of the tower, and waited for the descent. Even before the glass doors of the elevator opened, I could hear and see the chaos of children in the living area, as the Avengers were calmly situated around the table, looking trouble and/or unamused(namely Romanov and Rodgers).

Upon stepping out of the elevator, I was immediately attacked in a fierce bear hug by the small black and white blurs that were Ivy and Snowflower. They both had shown evidence of crying, but only Ivy actually wailed.

"Sister, it's terrible!" She cried. Snowflower looked even more worried than when King was taken. Behind them, Shuffle stared dazedly into space as Magenta put a cloaked arm around him, whispering comforting words. I looked over to the adults exchanging worried glances and drinking coffee.

"What happened?" I asked, unamused at the sight of such difference between them and the children. Banner sighed and ran a hand through his gray streaked hair. Setting down his coffee mug, Barton was the one who answered. "Marley's gone missing."

I shrugged it off. "Knowing her, she probably went off on a night adventure around Manhattan." I wouldn't be surprised if she walked right out of the elevator just that moment with a grin on her face and more stories to tell. "Besides, how hard can it be to find her in New York? I mean, I know it's the most populated in the country, but there's only gonna be one girl with a 12 foot wing span."

Romanov glanced over at me from over her coffee mug, looking as careless as I did. "You don't seem very worried about your friend." I shrugged. "Firefly is self-sufficient. She can get herself out of danger. She'll be fine. She, after all, literally can fly out of any situation."

Ivy's large green eyes welled up more tears. "Uh, but I'm positive that she'll come back soon. She's too loyal to leave her best friend behind, now isn't she, Ivy?" I gave a small smile. Ivy nodded, but she didn't look reassured at all.

Snowflower's head shot up from where she was nuzzled beneath my arm. "I know!" She exclaimed. "We could put up 'lost' posters!" Tony chuckled. "Lost posters?" Snow nodded. "Yeah, I saw them when we were driving here on the first day. When people lose things, it seems that they put up 'lost signs' with a picture on it, telling who it is and where to return them!" she seemed so proud of herself.

"But lost signs are only used for pets." Rogers just _had _to burst the poor girls bubble. It's a shame; it's not often that Snow shows pride in her own findings. "Oh." She went back to sit on the couch next to Shuffle, whose mind was still elsewhere.

I walked over to open the large refrigerator to find something to eat as Ivy still clung to me as if I were Jesus himself. Since we weren't separated by cages, things were back to normal between the two of us, meaning that she was always following me around as I went on with everyday life.

"Anyway, what about that voice, Jarvis? Wouldn't he have seen something going on?" Stark shook his head. "We already watched the recording of what went on. Apparently, she never went to sleep. Instead, Marley got up and went to the roof, where she told Jarvis not to tell anyone that she was gone. She left around midnight."

Ivy's eyes widened. "She's been gone for almost 7 hours! That's a long time!" I grabbed a bottle of orange juice and two glasses from the cabinet. After pouring a glass of orange juice for myself, I found a box of hot cocoa mix that had no sodium in it, so I made that for Ivy. After her experimentation, it was soon discovered that sodium to her is like catnip. It makes her just a little more crazy than usual.

I handed her the cocoa mug before taking a sip of my own orange juice. "Hey, cattails," I glanced over at Stark, "Who said you could raid my fridge and take my gourmet cocoa?" I set my glass down and licked my lips. "Well considering that we're freeloading here anyway until we get our own place, I assumed everything is up for grabs. Besides, who said I couldn't?" I glared at him.

He backed off after giving a surprised look my way. I can be very bitter when I want to be. Barton, after being quiet for so long, got up and took his and Romanov's cup to the industrial dishwasher.

Banner sighed. "On another note, all of your medical tests came back." The silence thickened as we waited for the results. He turned to me first.

"It seems that most of you are perfectly healthy… well, as healthy as you can get." Shuffle was snapped out of his reverie as he heard that. "Shuffle, with the least physically traumatizing, has social anxiety."

"Lucy, your body temperature is naturally lower than average by about 15%, but otherwise are perfectly healthy. And Magenta, your skin is extremely sensitive to the sunlight, so you burn very easily." _So that's why she wears that cloak all the time. _"What about Marley?" Ivy asked nervously.

Banner took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "There's a small possibility that she has asthma." Shuffle seemed horrified at the newly discovered information. He jumped up, shaggy ash blonde hair waving wildly. "That means we have to find her soon, before she gets into trouble!"

The boy seemed fueled and ready to find and defend the girl with the determination of a sugar-deprived child staring at a cookie jar. Ready to head out on the streets, I held up a hand, blocking him from the elevator. "Hold on there a sec, whirlwind. We don't even know where to start."

Rogers nodded. "Right. We should split up into pairs to cover more ground." Every seemed to like that idea. "How about this: Stark and Magenta can look between here and Central park. Barton and Katanya," I glared at him for using my real name," look near the Bronx. Banner and Lucy can take the Upper East. Romanov and Ivy search the upper west while Apollo and I search along the East River."

Noticing that he was left out, Chauncey jumped up and down on the love-seat. "What do I get to do? What about me?" "You're gonna stay here and contact us in case Marley comes back." The boy deflated in defeat, slouching on the couch as he flipped through the channels on the TV.

Everyone quickly went back to their rooms to change. I kept on the borrowed black sweatpants and put on a sleeveless gray jacket over a dark purple tank top, a black beanie covering my cat ears with my tail tucked in my belt loop. If you haven't noticed, I tend to prefer darker colors, as opposed to my sister, who chose to wear a bright orange sweater and faded blue jeans.

After meeting up on the bottom floor, everyone went with their respective partner. I followed Barton into an expensive looking red Ferrari. Leave it to Stark to only have the finest in life. Barton put the key in the ignition and the car roared to life before taking off down toward the East side of Manhattan.

* * *

As we looked up and down each street looking for our little lost "birdy", something caught my eye. We turned down one street, where a small group of people were listening to an old man standing on a soapbox. We almost drove past him until he said something not so unbelievable.

"I swear I saw it! An angel flying in the sky!" Barton and I only glanced at each other. We knew exactly who this "angel" could have been. Barton stopped the car as I got out and pushed through the crowd. "Hey, old man." The guy glanced down at me, eyes wide with surprise. "What's this about an angel?"

"I'd seen it with my own eyes late last night. It was a real angel. Although, I'm pretty sure angels don't wear jeans or fuzzy black boots…" the man trailed off. "Hey!" I got his attention back. "Where was this so called 'angel' heading?" The man shrugged. "I couldn't be sure, but it looked to be headed towards the Brooklyn Bridge."

Turning back, I waded through the crowd of unamused watchers and hopped back into the car. We headed toward the Brooklyn Bridge, looking for any sort of clue as we went on. Making it to the bridge, we decided to look around a bit for clues.

As we did so, I heard another conversation popping up.

"Jenna, are you sure you didn't buy it from a store?"

"'Course not! I found it inside the warehouse over there."

'That's an awfully big feather." _Bingo._

Letting my ears lead me, I found two girls standing along the river, possibly only around 10 or 12 years old. In the hand of one of the girls, I'm guessing "Jenna", was a large feather, bigger than that of an eagles. A _tan_ feather with shimmering flecks along the spine. No bird in existence had such a unique feather.

But one genetically enhanced bird girl did.

Carefully, I walked up to the girls. "Hey there." Slightly jumping, the two girls were surprised to see someone else wandering along the river. Barton stayed near the car, so it was only me that the girls could see at the moment.

I eyed the feather in hand. "That's a pretty big feather. Looks like one from an ostrich. Or a cassowary." Their eyes widened at the names of the two different birds. Jenna glanced at her friend. "Do you know about birds?"

I leaned back, crossing my arms and shrugging. "I had to do a project on them in school one time. I still remember a lot about them." It was a huge bluff. I only knew these birds because of my former handler's obsession with them.

She held up the feather to my face. "What kind of bird is this from, then?" I looked away, smiling. "I can't be sure just from a feather. I'd have to know where it came from."

The other girl spoke up. "Jenna said she found it in that warehouse over there." Looking in the direction of the girl's pointed finger, I saw an old, beat up warehouse that had obviously seen better days. I forced open the rusted doors and walked inside, where another of Firefly's feathers greeted me.

Amazingly, the holes in the ceiling gave me just enough light to see around in the place. "Must be my lucky day." I muttered. Peeking out from behind me, the girl pointed to a clearing in between the crates. Stepping into it, my senses immediately reacted to the smells of various people, including Firefly's.

What shocked me was that I also smelt King, Moonah, and even Leo in the same area_. 'Could they have come back for Firefly?' _ "Um," I had forgotten about the two girls. "So can you tell me what kind of feather this is?"

I quickly summoned another bluff from my lips. "Yeah, it's from an Australian Kingfisher. They're incredibly large with tan under feathers so you're really lucky that you got one of those." I Walked out of the warehouse, back towards the car.

Barton was looking out with a pair of binoculars across the bridge. He set the spectacles down as I held up my prize from the warehouse. "Damn, that's a big feather." Holding it up to the light of the sun, sure enough, the spine glittered with what looked like gold flecks encrusted in the parts by the spine of the feather.

Barton whistled. "Why's it glittery?" I put the feather down in my lap. "Convenience. Her DNA was tampered like that so what when Firefly was let out to stretch her wings, the white coats could easily find her in the sky if she tried to jailbreak."

"Anything else you gathered?" I closed my eyes and leaned against the car hood. "King and the others were here, along with quite a few new 'friends'. By the scent trail, they got into some type of boat and sailed away."

He whipped out his cellphone to inform every one of the news. After a few short goodbyes, we got back in the Ferrari and headed back to Stark Tower.

Meanwhile, with Snowflower and Bruce~

Bruce parked their borrowed blue convertible on the street of Broadway while Snowflower looked around the area. The sidewalk was covered with people rushing to get to their jobs, meetings, dates, or even just walking around aimlessly.

Bruce locked the door to the car and joined Lucy on the sidewalk. He sighed. "Well, where should we start first?"

After searching all over the Upper West side, 3 o'clock found them nearing back to the car, heads hung in defeat. Bruce ran a hand through his messy brown hair. Upon feeling his phone vibrate, he read the text message aloud to this companion.

"_Head back to the Tower. Banner and Topaz may have found something.~ Tony"_

Snow's eyes lit up. "Mr. Bruce, do you think they've really found Firefly?" She asked in a quiet voice.

"Bruce?" Said person's head spun around. His eyes lit up when a figure walked out of the crowd. Smiling, the woman put her hands on her hips. "Bruce Banner, it has been too long!"

The woman, around maybe her early thirties, threw an arm around Bruce in a small hug. Wary of this new person, Snowflower hid behind Bruce, clutching at his dress shirt. Bruce smiled back. "Elissa, how are you doing?"

The blonde woman, Elissa as claimed, warmly responded to his kindness. "I'm doing well. I'm just in New York for some business." She bent down to Snowflower's eye level at almost 4ft, clear blue eyes meeting pale blue. "And just who is this adorable little girl?"

Bruce gently pushed Snow from behind him to face the woman. "This… is Lucy. I'm, well, watching over her for a while." "You never seemed like the kind of person to look over a child, Bruce."

Bruce rubbed his neck. "Well, actually, she's an orphan." "Really?" Elissa looked back to Lucy. "Where are your parents, little one?" Banner sighed. "We don't even know _who_ her parents are."

Carefully, Elissa took a lock of Snow's hair in her hand. "You have such long, pretty hair." Snowflower stared in awe as Elissa brought the lock up to her lips in a small kiss. Giving a small smile, Elissa stood back up. "Well, it was nice talking to you again, Bruce."

"Um, you too."

Elissa narrowed her eyes a bit. "We must keep in touch." She whispered, smiling. "Well, goodbye!"

As the two waved Elissa goodbye, Snowflower stared as she disappeared into the large crowd of New York.

'She seems so familiar.' "Lucy!" Snowflower jerked her head up to meet Banner's brown eyes. "Let's go."

When the two made it back to the Tower, Topaz and Barton told of everything that they found. "So, King must've taken her back to wherever he is at." The Afro-Arab concluded.

Thinking absently, Snowflower grabbed the lock of hair that Elissa had kissed, looking it over.

The strand was turning back to its original color…blonde. It looked like Snow's white hair faded into a light ombre of golden blonde hair, though barely noticeable at first.

Shuffle and Ivy's worry for their dear friend grew as they learned of Firefly's possible whereabouts. Magenta and Topaz were too wearied out from their friends' eccentric to have a say in the matter.

Romanov drew up a conclusion. "So if King and the others were taken to Germany, and Marley apparently found King here in New York, shouldn't she have gone back to Germany with them?" Beside her, Barton nodded.

Snowflower seemed to be lost deep within her thoughts, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers, while the others were despaired by the situation at hand.

Everyone stopped their thoughts when Banner asked a question that no one had thought of yet.

"_So, who's gonna tell Fury that we lost a kid?"_

* * *

End of Chapter 9!

Two chapters in two days! I'm getting on a roll!

What do you think of the story so far?

"You can decorate absence however you want- but your still gonna feel what's missing."  
― Siobhan Vivian


	10. Chapter 10: Formula for Chaos

Flight to Freedom Chapter 10:

_Scientists flanked her on each side as they led the new experiment down the blinding white hallways. _

_By time they made it to their destination, she felt as if she had walked through a labyrinth. They paused at the door, tightening their grip on the chains that encircled her light brown arms. Her harsh orange eyes glared at the door, as if to melt it down to the ground._

_The taller scientist opened the large metal door while the other shoved the girl inside. As she hit the ground with a muffled thud, her newly heightened senses caught the smell of another cat. Looking up, she found herself in a large arena, about the size of a hockey stadium. The seats lining the wall made it feel like a real one. _

_Standing in the middle of the field, beating the stuffing out of a humanoid dummy was another experiment, a boy. Sweat was rolling down his pale face, sticking his light brown hair to his forehead. He couldn't have been any older than she was, making him about 9 or 10._

_Suddenly, he stopped, noticing that he was being watched by the two orange-gold eyes. Standing up straight, he eyed his new companion with wary ice blue eyes. It was only then that the girl noticed that his light brown hair hid his tall serval ears well. His tail curled against his backside._

_The girl felt herself being shoved into the middle of the arena, the scientist's cold hands piercing through her thin jacket. Huffing, she stood tall and walked toward the boy, eyes narrowing as she got closer. _

"_This," the scientist said, gesturing to the girl," is experiment 29. She shall be your new training partner." The boy's eyes glanced over the girl as the scientist walked away. Satisfied, he gave a small smile and held out his hand. "My name is Richard, but everyone calls me King." _

_The girl looked at him for a moment before shaking his hand. "Topaz."_

_TimeSkip~ 2 years later_

_A muffled thud was made as King once again hit the ground. _'23.'_ "Again." Was all that Harris said, dark eyes evaluating the two. The boy looked up to his "Rival." Topaz had barely moved from her starting stance, orange eyes staring back at his blue ones. _

_King got up and back into his fighting stance, attacking as soon as the whistle sounded. Once again, he was thrown back by the panther girl who once again had barely moved. He got up. Taking a different approach, King stayed still after the whistle sounded._

_The two combatants circled each other slowly, trying to read each other's next move. For almost five minutes, neither made so much as a flinch toward the other. Dr. Harris began to get impatient. "One of you, attack!" _

_In a flash, Topaz had stepped around her partner, wrapped her tail around one of his legs, effectively spinning him to face her, before delivering a punch to his forehead. Disoriented, King couldn't see Topaz as she brought her arm up in a choking neck hold, spinning him again and pinning him to the floor._

_That day, he officially decided, King would do whatever it takes to beat the invincible Cat-Girl._

_They would always be rivals._

In the end, we somehow decided to keep this a secret from Fury until we found Marley and brought her back. On the bright side, the Avengers would be taking a trip to Germany to find the others and bring them back.

The downside? We-the "Children" as Steve called us now- had to stay here in the tower. Bruce would be staying here to watch over us as the others got to have all the fun. I didn't mind so much, as I had better things to deal with. It was Shuffle and Chauncey who had problems with this.

Shuffle, whom had grew quite fond of the bird-girl's company, was now restless and wanting to find her soon.

Chauncey was always restless, so nothing was new with him. Snowflower had taken to following Banner around, fondly calling him "Mr. Bruce." He didn't seem to mind, as Snow didn't interfere with his lab work. Ivy was usually either bothering me, asking my opinion on Firefly's disappearance or about what to do.

Magenta only stayed in her room, watching TV and muttering about some nonsense. She was completely immersed in the cheesy old soap operas that played in black and white, uncaring about the outside world.

With the other Avengers stayed at the Helicarrier for now, preparing for their espionage, Chauncey got bored pretty easily. So when he came to me with one of his signature devilish grins, I knew it could mean nothing but trouble.

"No." The boy hadn't even gotten a word out before I rejected his unspoken idea. I was in Magenta's room, playing company to the girl as we made fun of the melodramatic characters on screen. The Tasmanian boy stood in the door frame, puffing out his cheeks at my response.

Daring to come into the room, he made his way to my side, crouching down with his hands clasped tight as if her were saying his prayers. "But Topaz," He whined. "You didn't even give me a chance to explain." I shook my head, eyes still following the actors on screen. "Fine, what is it?" Grinning, he stood up as if to present a speech.

"So, Tony said that we can't leave the tower unless we have a responsible adult with us, right?" I nodded. "So, why don't we go exploring around the city?" "Yeah, one problem. Where are you going to find an adult dumb enough to let us out?"

His grin got wider, if that was even possible. Placing his hand on his hip, he pointed at me. "You, Topaz are responsible. So you should come with us to explore the city and find something fun to do!"

Magenta, from her spot on the bed, snorted. "No offence, but Topaz isn't responsible for you, nor is she an adult." It was true. I'm only 14. "Besides, who is 'we'?" He held up 4 fingers. "It'll be all four of us! As soon as I ask Ivy. And as soon as Snowflower agrees." He mumbled that last part to himself. "What about Shuffle?" I asked.

Chauncey shook his head, black strands shaking wildly. "He's too worried over the adults and Firefly. He won't be any fun to be around."

Magenta shook her cloak clad head. "I don't want to go anywhere." "And neither do I. Sorry bud, your idea has been rejected." I concluded, putting my attention back to the soap opera, where someone was crying about her boyfriend walking out on her.

Chauncey looked crestfallen but he doesn't give up that easily. He got up from the bed, snatching up the remote as he went, turned off the TV, and booted out the door. Magenta was already in pursuit before I realized what happened. "Hey!" I heard her shout.

Quickly following behind, I managed to get out the door just as I saw the Tasmanian boy grin at me as the glass doors to the elevator close and he descended. Taking the stairs, we followed the boy down to the living area making a mess of the kitchen as he jumped from counter to counter.

As he landed on the couch, I stretched out my sharp nails, meaning to frighten him as he moved away at the last minute. I jumped off the couch, ripping the luxury leather seats as I followed the boy in pursuit. We followed him through each and every one of the rooms, creating a mess wherever we went. The boy was still waving the remote around, taunting us as he did so.

Ivy was calmly reading a book she found when we came clambering in. The Tasmanian devil boy jumped on her back before jumping off. "Hey!" Ivy's green eyes flashed, angered by the action. Leaping onto the couch she was sitting on I screamed. "Get that remote!"

Nodding, she made haste to chase after the boy, stumbling over the things he had thrown in my sister's way. Shuffle overheard the scuffle going on in the other room and looked in to peek. Chauncey, seeing his chance, leapt at the boy, bringing Shuffle flat on his back before bouncing off to the elevator, headed toward the lab-where Banner and Snow were.

Taking the stairs two at a time, I told JARVIS not to mention the mess we made to anyone. Surprisingly, he complied.

We reached the lab just after Chauncey shot out of the elevator, maneuvering around the metal tables filled with glass bottles. In the corner of the lab, Banner had on headphones, not noticing anything until Snow tapped him and pointed to Chauncey standing on one of the tables, triumphantly waving the remote as he did.

"Ha! I win!" He shouted, letting his guard down. Leaping on to one of the tables, I let out a yelling battle cry as I leapt at the boy, missing by a foot. I landed on the edge of the table, my weight and momentum flinging the boy (and the bottles filled with unmarked liquids) across the room. "Guys! Stop!" Banner's voice was lost within the sounds of the battle of the remote between me and Magenta, and Chauncey.

Bruce kept shouting out to us, trying to move his way through the mess that we had made in our fight.

Deciding to finally end this, I gave one sharp tug of the remote before grabbing Chauncey's small wrist, twisting it behind his back and kicking him to the ground. Huffing, I handed the remote to Magenta who gave a small victory cry before being silenced by another yell.

Banner's lab coat was being torn apart as he began to grow larger and… greener? Horrified, Snow quickly shimmied against the wall and hurried over to me, eyes wide in fear as we watched Banner change.

"What's happening?" Shuffle screamed over the angry yells of the green Banner.

Chauncey could only stand staring at the now 8 foot green muscle man, frozen in fear. Attentive, Shuffle pushed Snowflower, Chauncey, Magenta and Ivy back into the stairway. "Go! Get upstairs quickly!" Ivy now taking charge coaxed the two youngest children, claiming that it will be alright.

Letting my canines grow out to look like fangs, I stood beside Shuffle ready to attack if needed. "What exactly are we up against?" He asked, waiting to attack. I glanced over to him, orange eyes meeting silver.

"A monster."

* * *

End of Chapter 10!

Thank you all for reading Flight to Freedom and putting up with my changes in the story! Stay tuned for Chapter 11!

"All monsters have their fits of depression."- Rachilde

~EndingDream6560


	11. Chapter 11: Dealing with Disaster

"Jarvis." Topaz called out, eyes still on the raging Hulk. When the AI answered she told him to inform Tony of their current situation. Not waiting another second, the green beast proceeded to pound the remaining tables and sped towards the two battle-ready teenagers.

They both jumped out of the way just as two large green hands smashed the floor where they were once standing. Taking the initiative, Topaz hopped onto one of his enclosed fists and jumped over his head, gymnastics style. She landed a few feet away, on all fours and tail lashing out to keep her balance.

"C'mon Frankenstein!" She mocked. The hulk turned to look at her, lime green eyes glaring down at the girl. "I haven't got all day!" the hulk aimed for another punch, effectively smashing the ground and causing the floor to collapse. Caught off guard, Topaz fell on her head, disorienting her.

Meanwhile, Shuffle grabbed a broken table leg, jumping up and landing on the monster's head as it advanced toward the helpless girl. He led the monster away from Topaz as she got up, leading it toward the windows of the floor.

Looking around, Topaz noticed that they were now on the training floor, most of the equipment broken from the impact. She grabbed a long metal pole, waiting for the Hulk to move closer to the window. The Hulk now had the bat boy trapped between him and the glass windows. 'I hope this works.' She though as she ran towards the monster, pole still in hand.

Screaming out a "battle cry", Topaz placed the end of the pole on the ground, vaulting herself onto the back of the Hulk. The force was enough to push all three of them out the window, falling toward the busy street below. Stretching out his wings, Shuffle flew up past the falling green beast and back up to the top of the building, catching Topaz bridal carry as he went up.

He gave a small smirk at her unamused expression. "You didn't think I'd let you fall, did you?" Topaz rolled her eyes, staring back down at the Hulk's crash site. Her eyes widened. "LOOK OUT!" Shuffle didn't have time to understand before the car hit them and they both fell down.

Now grabbing her hand, Shuffle guided them back into the building where they fell from. Standing there already were the others, each of them looking worried and scared. Except Chauncey, who saw this as a real live action movie right in front of his eyes.

As they all looked up, they saw a SHIELD helicopter in the distance, getting closer. Also getting closer was the Hulk, steadily climbing up the ruined Stark Tower as if it were a mere step ladder.

"I think this guy needs to _chill out_." Topaz locked eyes with Snowflower and the little girl knew what she had to do. Bringing her hands in a wide sweeping motion, she made the glass windows freeze over, freezing the Hulk's hand to the structure as well. Unable to break free, the green beast roared in anger, feebly trying to free himself.

Ivy tipped her head over the edge, watching the beast's defeat. "Well, that's gotta be cold." They laughed nervously as the helicopter hovered over the area, tranquilizing the Hulk with a special needle and picking up the children to take back to base.

* * *

When they landed on the battleship, they were greeted by Agent Hill, Phil and even Fury himself, who looked true to his name.

After being asked if everyone was okay, Topaz, the eldest, got chewed out for not being "responsible enough" and "for acting like a child." Apparently, with the Avengers dealing with "International Affairs", Jarvis instead called SHIELD and told them everything, from the cause of the Hulk, to the misadventures of the fight.

Narrowing his one visible eye, Fury scanned the line of six children. "There were seven of you, weren't there?" He questioned, slowly walking down the line and back. He stopped in front of Topaz, intending to get his question answered.

Their staring contest didn't last long, as Topaz proved hard to break. Though it only took him one glance to Ivy for her to give up. "Its Firefly. She's gone missing for two days now, sir." She hurried out, melting under the heated gaze of the General.

"Why was I not notified of this?" He demanded. Ivy merely shrugged, trying to hide behind Topaz as best as she could. Fury decided to drop the subject for now.

Now with nowhere else to go, Fury reluctantly had the six kids stay on the Helicarrier, under Phil's supervision until the whereabouts of the Avengers were discovered. Pepper, who was in Italy dealing with Stark International business, wouldn't be back for another few weeks.

The six followed Phil to the agents' quarters. They would all have to sleep in the same room until everything was settled. After Phil left to get them something to eat, they all sat down on the three air mattresses in the medium sized room.

Lying face down, Ivy mumbled into the pillow next to her sister. "Steve is gonna kill us when he finds out. He already thinks we're incapable of taking care of ourselves." Shuffle sighed from his place on the third bed, next to Chauncey. "I'd be more worried about Tony. It is, after all, his Tower."

Chauncey jumped up onto the bed pointing a small hand at Topaz. "This is all your fault!" Enraged, the panther girl stood up to counter the boy. She ranked over the 8 year old by 6 full years and almost two feet. Still, the Tasmanian boy didn't back down.

"How is this my fault? You were the one who made a mess of everything!" Topaz seethed with rage. Chauncey glared at her. "This wouldn't have happened if you had just went along with my idea like you should have!" He yelled.

Topaz jumped over and pushed the boy to the ground, pinning him down and ignoring the yells of protest coming from the spectators in the room. "Here's a reality check, Chauncey! Not everyone will just as easily jump onto your train of thought. Grow up already!" Chauncey struggled against the girl, unable to break free under her strong grip. Taking a different approach, he bit down hard on Topaz's arm, evoking a cry of pain from the girl as he bucked her off. Topaz continued to lecture him as she threw punches his way, Chauncey just barely missing each of them.

"You need to think things through all the way! Once you make a mistake, you can't always just go back to it. Everything has consequences!" Topaz landed a blow to his cheek, throwing the boy against the wall with a dull thud.

He got up, swaying from the impact of the punch. No one moved as the two glared at each other, Topaz cradling her bitten arm. "I'm just trying to act like a normal kid would. We have a chance to act human now that we're free!" Chauncey yelled.

Topaz's eyes flared. "WE AREN'T HUMAN ANYMORE!" She snapped. "We lost that when they chained us like dog and took away our privileges!"

Chauncey bared his teeth at her. "You're just crabby because you know you can't go back to get that stupid watch back from-" He didn't finish as he was harshly back handed by Topaz, tears stinging his eyes from the pain.

"It was a compass." She whispered as she threw open the door and ran down the hallway, bumping into Phil as she blindly ran.

Ivy stood up to follow her sister, but was stopped by a heavily cloaked arm. "Don't. It's best to let her blow off some steam first, lest someone else get hurt." Ivy sat down, taking Magenta's advice.

Just then, Phil came back through the door, pushing a cart with six plates of lasagna on it. "What's wrong with her?" He asked, referring to Topaz. His eyes widened as he saw the bruise forming on Chauncey's cheek. Quickly running to him, Phil checked his injury. "What happened to you?"

Shuffle spoke up. "Those two don't exactly see eye to eye." Quickly distributing the plates, Phil pushed the cart out and went off in search for a medic.

* * *

_Ice cold hands grabbed the two of them as they fought back, kicking and screaming. The elder girl looked to her sister who was crying, reaching out to try and catch her hand. Katanya held her sister's hand, the other desperately clutching the small silver compass, given to her not two weeks before the kidnapping._

_As the girl called out to her sister, telling her not to be afraid, the two were placed in separate rooms and chained to operating tables. Katanya screamed out in pain as they stuck needle after needle in her skin._

_One of the scientists-whom she would later know as Harris- pried the hand sized compass out of her small hand, dropping into his pocket with a smirk. "I'll just hold on to this for you."_

_~After the Experiment~_

_As she gained consciousness, Katanya looked around the table at the scientists. She looked over the other way toward the one way mirror. She looked completely different._

_Her curly short black hair was now thick and spiky from the static electricity. Peeking between the strands of hair were two small cat-like ears. Instead of dark brown eyes looking back at her, a pair of harsh golden eyes glared back at her, reminding her of one of her mother's jewels. Even from where they were whispering, Katanya could hear the scientists speaking about what to do with her._

_Feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline, the newly formed cat-girl broke free of the chains binding her and jumped to her feet on the table. The scientist scrambled for something to sedate her with. _

_As one of them confronted her to push her back down, Katanya felt something take over as she clawed the face of the scientists his screams of pain falling on deaf ears. More tried to take her down as the adrenaline rush pushed her to fight back, blindly kicking, biting, and scratching._

_Before long, she stood in the middle of a room of corpses, blood staining her tattered clothes. Only Dr. Harris remained, smirking from his place by the door, unconcerned about the blood stains on his own lab coat. He crossed the bloody battlefield, stopping a few feet away from the operating table. He smiled wider._

"_Good job, my little monster." The cat girl let out a screech as she jumped on Harris, claws outstretched toward his smirking face._

* * *

The cat girl let herself get lost within the hallways of the Helicarrier. After silently admitting to herself that she was lost, Topaz groaned in frustration and aimlessly roamed the seemingly never-ending walls of the Helicarrier. Finding her way outside, the girl's eyes widened at the sight of the New York Skyline at sunset.

The setting sun painted the sky with orange fading into a dark blue in the distance. The skyscrapers were illuminated with dazzling lights. In the distance, she could just make out the sign for Stark Tower, the power in the building still working.

"Breath-taking, isn't it?" Topaz was startled out of her reverie. Glancing back, Phil was coming up to stand next to her, eyes looking out at the miraculous sight. "You're little rampage there wasn't about growing up, was it?" he asked with a knowing glance.

Topaz closed her eyes, curling her hands into fists. She turned and walked back. "If you wanted us safe, you shouldn't have put a monster in charge." Phil didn't move. "Which one are you referring to?"

She stopped in her tracks, eyes downcast as Phil lay a hand on her shoulder. "You're not a monster. You're just a misguided kid. You can have your little fit later. Right now, you have to be captain over your team. Respect them, teach them, and control them." He paced so that he was now in front of Topaz.

"Watch over them. Comfort them. And if you need to, confide in them. Even the best agents in SHIELD need advice and comfort." He walked back inside, leaving Topaz to her thoughts.

_Respect them_. 'Chauncey needs to understand other people's views. And I need to respect his own.'

_Teach them_. 'Snowflower still has a lot to learn about dealing with others. And I need to learn how to control my anger.'

_Control them_. 'I could've prevented what happened if I took charge and listened to Chauncey's idea all the way through.

_Watch over them_. 'I have to make sure they take the right paths while not straying off of my own.'

_Comfort them_. 'Shuffle is still depressed about Firefly's disappearance. Its hit us all pretty hard, even me.'

_Confide in them_. 'Magenta seems to be very wise about decision making, but she doesn't like being in charge of other people. Maybe once in a while I could ask for her opinion.'

Topaz nodded to herself, a determined look set on her face. She caught up with Coulson as she came to a conclusion, silently following him back to the room.

Phil only glanced back once, smiling at her as he led the way back. "So what do you think?"

Topaz smiled. "I'm going to try my hardest to make things work. You're right, everyone is looking up to me now and I need to take responsibility for them… and for myself."

Phil smiled. "Just so you know, we can have the tower fixed up in about three days."

"That's great!" _'Then we won't have to explain what happened and how much trouble we're in.'_

"Also, we've located the Avenger's jet and they'll be back by tomorrow afternoon."

…Crap.

* * *

End of Chapter 11!

Don't forget to Review!

"We learn from failure, not from success!" ~ Bram Stoker


	12. Chapter 12: Newfound Troubles

Snowflower POV:

Things weren't working out well for us at all. Topaz and Magenta went off against Chauncey to gain control of the remote. Shuffle and Ivy failed to comfort each other over their friend's disappearance.

But I was mostly worried about Mr. Bruce.

We did after all just leave him back at the tower. I really hoped that he had gotten out of the ice.

Right now, we were all situated around a small table in the dining area of the apartment, minus Magenta who went off to find us something to eat seeing as we woke up before Phil came. Our eyes watched Topaz as she nervously paced back and forth in front of us.

Finally, she stood at the head of the table, crossing her arms and giving herself an authoritative air about her. "Alright, it's come to my attention that we haven't exactly been the closest of friends lately." She said, sharp eyes lingering on Chauncey.

She sighed. "But, I'm willing to respect each and every one of you so long as you all respect me." She looked down. "Chauncey, I'm sorry for getting mad at you yesterday and last night. It was wrong of me to do so."

When he didn't respond, Ivy bumped him on the arm. "Well?" "Sorry." He mumbled, rubbing his bandaged cheek.

Just then, the door was thrown open, revealing a pale girl with long black hair, covered in a long pale yellow cloak. Everyone stared at her as she caught her breath, reddish purple eyes looking around the apartment table. Topaz was the first to identify her.

"Magenta? Is that you?" Everyone was shocked as the girl's true face was no longer covered in cloth. She looked up and gave a small smile.

"You won't believe what I heard. The Avengers' plane went down somewhere over Frankfurt, Germany. They can't be located."

"They've gone… missing?" We all found it hard to believe that the Avengers- an initiative of the legendary SHIELD- had disappeared. Magenta nodded, taking a seat next to Shuffle. "Everyone on the upper deck is freaking out and Fury's having a fit."

Topaz straightened up. "Alright. Snow, Shuffle, you two find out if they're planning a search party. I wanna know everything."

Shuffle nodded. "Okay." I replied.

"In the meantime, Magenta and I will try and locate the training area on board. Ivy and Chauncey, stall for us in case Phil comes back."

"Okay, Chief!" Chauncey saluted while Ivy simply smiled.

"Let's go!"

Shuffle and I walked down the gray hallways of the Helicarrier, listening for anyone. "Geez, with the amount of money they have, you'd think they could color the hallways more brightly." Shuffle huffed, causing me to smile.

At the end of the hallway was the door to the cafeteria. Peeking through the window by the doors, we saw the entire place swarming with agents alike, socializing and eating breakfast. "We've gotta get in there, Shuffle." Nodding, the silver haired boy led the way inside, easily blending in with the crowd.

We situated ourselves at an empty table, keeping our heads low. Agents were smiling and laughing or gossiping with serious faces on.

"Jenna, where did you get your nails done? They're fabulous!"

"Man, training yesterday was brutal. I hope it's not as bad today." "Hey, you and I both, buddy."

I sighed. "Shuffle I don't think-""Shh." He was listening carefully to something going on across the cafeteria, honing in with his sensitive hearing range. "What is it?"

"They're planning on sending out a search party later tonight, by private plane." Silently, we got up and were out of the lunchroom before anyone noticed us. I smiled. "This is like being a real spy!" I whispered.

Shuffle and I turned down another hallway, racing back to the apartment.

I turned around another corner too quickly, bumping into someone as I did. Before I could hit the ground, I was tugged up off my feet by a large hand encircling my wrist. I looked up into large blue eyes on a bearded face framed by blonde locks.

"Mr. Thor!" Shuffle exclaimed from behind me. "My apologies, young lady." His voice boomed as he set me down.

"Thor? As in the same Thor from Norse mythology?" I asked, face scrunched up in confusion. There's no way…

The tall man kneeled down. "Thor Odinson of Asgard, milady." He took my hand, shaking it lightly.

Shuffle came to stand next to me. "Mr. Thor, what are you doing here?" He asked.

Thor straightened up. "I was informed that the man of Iron and his teammates went missing earlier. I have come to help search for my companions."

Shuffle and I shared a knowing glance. "We know where the Avengers are." Thor's eyes brightened.

I held a finger up. "But, we were told not to leave here unless there's a responsible adult with us."

Thor straightened, crossing his buff arms. "I am an adult with great responsibility. I shall accompany you to find the others."

"Great, we should tell Topaz about this. In the meantime, Mr. Thor, do you think you could find us a plane to fly in?" Thor nodded. "I shall do so. I will find you later, young midgardians!" He yelled as he walked back down the hallway.

Shuffle and I walked back towards the room, unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching us both.

Topaz POV:

Two hours and four dozen rooms later led Magenta and I nowhere closer to any of the training rooms. So far, we had found (and unlocked) many agents' quarters and another medical bay.

Head held in defeat, I looked over to Magenta. Although the pale cloak still covered the rest of her body, the girl's hood was down, revealing jet black locks.

"We've been searching for a while, how's about we go back to the 'Crash Pad'?" Magenta asked. I sighed. "We shall."

A few twists and turns later led us back to the apartment that we dubbed the "Crash Pad". Both Chauncey and Ivy looked up with hopeful eyes as we walked through the doors. Ivy gave a small smile, emerald eyes twinkling. "Welcome back guys. Find anything?"

"Nothing worthwhile." Magenta explained. "Where's Snowflower and Shuffle?" She asked.

Chauncey shrugged. "They never came back. And Phil never came to check on us either." Something seemed off. I can imagine Snow and Shuffle getting side-tracked and exploring, but Coulson? He promised to come back soon with breakfast.

"Something's not right." Ivy voiced my thoughts. "They've been gone almost three hours. Should we go looking for them?"

I had a bad feeling about all of this. And I always trust my instincts. "We'll stay together and look for them. No one's getting left behind on my watch." We all walked out the door and down the long hallways.

Chauncey and Magenta brought up the rear of our little search party as Ivy stuck to my side, mutated eyes looking down the corridors. We called out Shuffle and Snowflower's names, looking past each door that we encountered.

Just our luck, we came across one of the last people I wanted to see today: Agent Maria Hill. She narrowed her hazel eyes as she stopped before us. "What are you four doing here? You should be back in your quarters." She had the voice that screamed authority.

Magenta saved us. "Mr. Coulson never came back to our apartment and we were getting hungry." Hill crossed her arms, as if she didn't believe us.

"Well, I'll have to have a talk with Coulson about that. For now, return to your room." Seeing no other choice, I gave Chauncey 'The signal'. After a flash of mischief crossed his face, the Tasmanian boy's brown eyes grew almost two sizes before welling with fake tears.

Immediately, he threw himself against Hill's legs, holding on as if it were his lifeline. "But Miss Maria! I'm starving! I haven't eaten since last night! And we didn't have that much to eat! I want a meal like we had when me and Topaz and Snowflower were first brought on here!

As Chauncey rambled on, everyone could see the clear annoyance and nervousness seep through the cracks of Hill's impassive mask. "Do you know what we had on our first day here?" "Well, um-"

"We had fish and sushi and steak and grapes and apples and pudding and hamburgers and salad and noodles and even chocolate cake! Have you ever had chocolate cake?"

"Yes I have. Now let's-"

"I've never had chocolate cake." Ivy exclaimed adding to the plan to annoy Miss Hill. Chauncey's eyes brightened and he pulled Hill's legs tighter, if it was at all possible.

"You have to try some! It's super yummy and sweet! And you should also try hamburgers!" Now fully annoyed, Hill pried Chauncey off of her legs and turned around, vaguely mumbling a "follow me."

Obeying, she led us to the cafeteria, which had been almost cleared out from the lunch break. Only a few people remained, including the workers serving food. Hill led us up to the front of the line, pulled out a card to swipe at the cash register and told the workers to "give us anything to shut us up."

As she left the cafeteria, Chauncey called out to her in his sweetest angel voice. "Oh, Miss Maria! Won't you come eat with us?" He asked with puppy dog eyes. Hill narrowed her own brown eyes and walked out without a response.

We soon found out that the workers had been given specific instructions as to not let us out until Phil came for us. With nothing else to do, we ate. The cafeteria was completely cleared out, sans the last worker washing dishes and locking up everything.

As he worked in the back, we (the 'Pack' as we now called ourselves) tried to find alternate ways out of the locked lunchroom.

My head snapped to the door as I heard it slide open. Out stepped a tall figure in a hooded black jacket. Everyone stopped moving.

I narrowed my eyes. "Can I help you?" the hooded figure flipped over its hood to reveal a teenage boy with black hair, a white streak running through it and piercing green eyes. He looked unemotional as he approached our group.

Magenta came to stand next to me as the others stood behind. The boy frowned. "I'm required to give you a choice: either come with me, or I'll take you all by force." "You got a name, statue?" I smirked. His eyes looked glazed over, as if he were half dead.

"My name is Badger. Come with me or I'll take you by force." I folded my arms, closing one eye and narrowing the other. "And if I say 'no'?" Badger narrowed his eyes and snapped his gloved fingers. Stepping out of the shadows behind him were two other teens. Held in their arms were the limp forms of Shuffle and Snowflower.

"Snowflower! Shuffle!" Ivy called out to them in vain. "No worries, they're alive… for now." Badger reassured us.

I hissed. "Nice trick. Is that how they train all of their dogs in Germany?" Chauncey looked to me in surprise. "Germany, isn't that where Firefly and the avengers are at?" He asked.

The red headed girl who held up Snowflower grinned. "Good, you've done your homework. But now it's time for a field trip." She chuckled. I got into a defensive position.

"Sorry, but it looks like I forgot my permission slip." I made a move to attack just as something struck me in the back of my head.

As I hit the floor, through my last seconds of consciousness, the red headed girl came up to me and smirked. "Don't worry, our 'chaperones' will take good care of you." I heard her laugh as I passed out.

I woke up, head still spinning from the ambush of the metal pole. From what I could tell, we were laying on the benches of some kind of aircraft, possibly a private jet. I didn't realize that my hands and feet were bound until I attempted to get up. Looking around me, I saw the others in the same position, tied to their seats and buckled in, all still knocked out.

I heard a dark chuckling coming from behind me. I didn't need to see who I was, as I could tell from the sarcasm laced voice.

He came up to stand right in front of my seat, so I could take a good look at him.

"Hello, Tabby." His voice dripped with sarcasm. As he moved, a small glint of light caught my eye.

"Hello, Tom Cat." As I called him by the nickname he hated, my eyes grew in anger as I noticed where the light came from.

_Placed precariously around King's neck was a small, hand sized silver compass._

* * *

End of Chapter 12! Thank you all for being so patient with this story! It's getting close to finishing up!

Remember to review! I love to hear about what you have to say!

"Never let go of a good thing without a fight." ~Jarod Kintz

Goodnight, Everyone!~ EndingDream6560


	13. Chapter 13: Rikki's Story

Chapter 13: Rikki's Story

Rikki POV:

I looked over at Badger from my airplane seat across from him. His dark green eyes were lazily looking out the window almost 40,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean. We were riding in the private jet of our own Captain Nora, a woman who is very fond of riding in style.

So naturally the entire place was decked out like a fancy restaurant and bar with wings. King lay next to us in one of the luxurious couches as his blue eyes looked down at his necklace. I huffed in annoyance. He gave that useless piece of silver more attention than he gave to me!

"King," I cooed. "What's the next part of our plan?" I tried to get his attention. He merely glanced at me. "When we get back to base, Badger and I will take the others to the Captains." "And what about me?"

King scoffed. "You've got Marley to attend to, don't you?" I moaned in annoyance. The little lightning bug "Firefly" had already gotten on my nerves from day one. She rarely ever took orders from me unless applied by force. Most of our practice time was filled with her asking questions about everything! She was quite a nuisance to me.

I rolled my eyes. "Let Danny and Soto take care of her. Maybe she'd actually pay attention then." King narrowed his eyes. "I placed her under your care for a reason." He got out of his seat. "They should be awake by now." He said, referring to the 6 kids we just confiscated from SHIELD under the orders of Phoenix himself.

King walked out to the second section of the plane. He stopped by me, pulling something out of his pocket. Grabbing my hand gently he placed the key on the palm of my hand, closing my fingers around it with both of his hands. "I can trust you to keep this safe for me, right?" I stared up into his clear blue eyes.

I nodded, my own brown eyes staring into his. "You can always count on me, King." He smiled and walked through the doorway, closing the white door behind him. I heard a scoff behind me. "You're so lovesick, it's pathetic."

I leaned back in my seat. "You're just jealous 'cause I've got someone who cares about me like King does. " Badger rolled his eyes. "What do you think that key goes to?" I held the item in question up to my face. I shrugged.

I attached the key to my own necklace; a gold skull with a silver arrow between its teeth. Folding my arms, I fell into a deep sleep.

_The young girl ran for her life, clutching the small sack in her hand. Her curly red hair flew wildly behind her like a bright red cape. Men chased after her calling "Arrestare, Rikki!_

_Despite her bare feet hurt and bleeding, Rikki ran as fast and as far as she could racing along the streets of Venice. She chanced a glance back. The mafia boss's goons, Fernando and Dario, were quickly catching up to the 12 year old. Looking forward again, she noticed the docks up ahead, boats loading and unloading into large trucks, ready for long drives across countries. Thinking quickly, Rikki got lost within the large crowd of merchants, sailors and tourists. Too caught up in avoiding the mafia, the poor girl lost her footing upon rounding a corner and fell into the deep canals of Venice._

_The crowd went into chaos as they scrambled to find something to pull the girl out with. Panicking Rikki kicked frantically to the surface, letting go of the sack of gambled euros to regain her buoyancy. Blindly reaching out, she caught the hand of someone who pulled her out._

_Coughing, she looked up into the eyes of her "savior". Dario gave a crooked smile as she looked at him in horror. Before she could scream for help, a woman called her name. "Rikki!" Annoyed the mafia soldiers looked at the woman, as Rikki craned her neck to see who called her. _

_A woman, maybe in her late 20s, with long blonde hair ran up to the girl. She smiled, placing a soft hand on the girl. "Rikki, you shouldn't run off like that. What would your mother say?" Eyes widening, Rikki played along with the woman._

"_I'm sorry, Auntie. I wanted to go on an adventure." Rikki smiled sweetly as the woman gently took her hand. She looked up to the mafia soldiers. "Thank you for watching over my niece." Both smiling, the two walked away from the docks and the crowd, not looking back at the confused faces of the soldiers._

_Once out of earshot, Rikki took her hand back. "Who are you?" They stopped by a gondola, the gondolier leaning against the bow of the boat. He glanced up, eyes locking with the woman. "You ready?" He asked._

_The woman only nodded before stepping onto the boat. Rikki stayed on the sidewalk. "Are you coming, dearest?" Rikki crossed her arms. "Why should I?" _

_The woman smiled. "We can offer you a new life. A life without having to steal to live." She leaned back onto the seat. "Of course, you can always go with them." She jabbed a thumb behind the girl. Rikki looked back, eyes widening again._

_Dario and Fernando didn't seem very pleased about losing their money. They picked up their pace, anger etched on to their tanned faces and blazing in their eyes. Rikki took the woman's outstretched hand and hopped on to the boat._

_The woman shook her hand. "Welcome to the other side. My name is Elissa."_

I was rudely shoved out of my flashback dream by Badger. I lazily opened up one eye. "What?" "The plane's just landed. Let's go."

I moaned as I got out of my seat. Being back in Germany meant I have to deal with Marley. I followed Badger to the back of the plane, where the hostages were. They were all awake by now, scattered along the couches and seats of the plane.

King grabbed the dark skinned girl (I think he called her "Topaz") and the albino haired girl. Badger took the other African skinned girl with green eyes and the cloaked figure. Leaving me to take the last two: the two boys of the group. We ushered them out of the plane where none other than Elissa was sitting perfectly on the hood of the black van, smiling as she always does.

The white haired girl pointed at Elissa. "It's you!" She shouted. The older dark skinned girl looked at her. "Snow, you know this woman?" The girl nodded. "Yeah, Mr. Bruce knows her. I saw her when we were looking for Firefly." Elissa's smile widened, if that were possible. "You're late."

"We ran into a little trouble with security." Badger explained. Carefully, we got into the van the hostages in the first two rows, King and I sat in the middle row, and Badger having the back row to himself. "Topaz wasted no time in asking questions. "What have you done with the Avengers and Marley?"

King waved his arm nonchalantly, resting it lazily around my shoulders. I faintly heard Badger huff in amusement at the gesture.

"Marley came with us willingly. She's fine. As for the Avengers, they're in a sort of… sticky situation." The little girl, Snow, spoke up. "King, why are you doing this?"

He gave her a soft smile. "Snowy, the world is full of organizations just like Itex. It's our job to take them down. We train to become smarter and stronger, so that we can save others. You'll have the chance to join us, just like Marley." He spoke so nicely to her, as if she were so delicate.

King smiled. "I don't think I've properly introduced everyone. Rikki, Badger, these are my friends from the University."

He gestured to the two African girls. "This is Topaz and her little sister, Ivy." His hand brushed over the small ears of the raven haired boy. "Chauncey," the cloaked figure, "I'm guessing you're Magenta, from what Marley told me." And the dark gray haired boy, a pair of white bat wings protruding from his back. "And you must be Shuffle."

He pointed to the last girl, the albino haired child with pale blue eyes. "And this is Snowflower, my sister." Badger moved around in his seat. "You didn't tell us you had a sister." King looked back at him, his trademark smirk on his face. "You didn't ask."

He turned back. "Anyway," He put his hand on my shoulder. "This is Rikki Scarlett, my second in charge and Firefly's mentor." I closed my eyes and turned away, fighting the blush that threatened to appear from the close proximity of King and me.

He pointed a thumb back toward Badger, who looked at me, one eye open, and grinning, knowing exactly why I was hiding my face. "That's Badger. He's the mentor of Leo and my "strong right arm", or so to speak."

"Miss Elissa is the owner of the hotel that serves as the cover up for our Organization." King concluded with introductions.

The rest of the car ride carried on in an uncomfortable silence as the hostages debated on what was going to happen to them, Badger shooting me funny looks, King staring off into space, and I wondered what he was thinking about and what exactly our relationship was.

Marley POV

"This is a bad idea, Marley." Leo voiced his opinion as we explored around the underground hallways of the Organization's HQ. We had both woken up this morning only to find notes on our doors telling us that our mentors were on a mission and we had a "free day" to do whatever we wanted.

The small boy clutched on to my arm as I held my ball of light, illuminating the darkened hallways. Moonah still had training with her mentor, a buff aggressive girl nicknamed Falon, so it was only the two of us.

"What if someone catches us down here?" Leo asked for a third time since we started this morning. I looked down at my issued black and white digital watch. The glowing white numbers read "4:26 pm". "Look, Leo. We've been down here for over 10 hours. If anyone were to find us, they would have already." I explained.

Turning into another hallway, we found more doors. I turned the knob on the first one. "Locked." I muttered. Leo put down his little backpack and pulled out his lock picking set. It was a good thing that one of his special abilities is to be able to pick almost any lock.

In no time, we were inside the first door of the hallway. It was a type of study room. There was a large writing desk in the middle of the room, papers scattered across it. I stepped up to the desk. "What do a raven and a writing desk have in common?" I muttered.

"What?" Leo's acute hearing caught my words. I shook my head. "It's in a story. Don't worry about it."

We carefully looked over the papers, most of them letters to someone named "Phoenix." They all seemed to ask the same question: Mr. Phoenix, are you ready yet? Leo read another letter.

"Ready for what?" He questioned. I shrugged, digging back to find the older letters. One particularly caught my eyes.

_Dear Mr. Phoenix,_

_We are glad to hear about your interest in our experiments. We are looking for wealthy buyers willing to pay a good price for our best trained experiments, namely Ex.28 and 29. We are well aware of the connection between number 28 and one of your Captains and will gladly sell them if you are willing to do so._

_Please respond soon,_

_Director James Hopkins,_

_University of Itex, Australia_

Leo gasped. "Who do you think number 28 is?" I glanced back at him. "All experiments in the 20-30 range were from the Felidae line. So it's either King or Topaz, seeing as they're the only two that survived their experimentation."

"I wonder which captain has a connection with them." He thought aloud. Folding the letter, I put it into the pocket of my gray jeans. "Let's go. I have a feeling these other rooms may have more information for us."

The next room was plain, save for a few books scattered in the corners. The others seemed to be the same way. The last door led to another staircase, the lack of light giving no way on knowing what was at the bottom. "Oi, Marley. Let's head to another area." Leo whined.

I huffed. "Don't be such a baby." Equipping myself with my trusty light (after training for a week, I was now able to keep it going for more than an hour), I lead the way down the staircase, into the unknown. Reaching the bottom not long after, I found a light switch. Flicking it on, the bulbs lightened the large room.

It was a science lab. Tables were set up in the antechamber of the lab, miscellaneous tubes and beakers littering the tables. A large chalk board was at the front of the room, math problems and formulas covering the green board.

Finding nothing of interest in the first room, we walked through the small walkway into the second room.

Inside there were four long tables, making it look like the lab from Frankenstein. Though it wasn't Mary Shelly's monster that was passed out and attached to the four tables.

No, It was Tony, Steve, Clint and Natasha.

Each of the Avengers was strapped to a table, IV lines attached to their arms as they lay in a coma like sleep.

* * *

End of Chapter 13!

"I'd said it before and meant it: Alive or undead, the love of my life was a badass." ~Richelle Mead

I love reviews so don't forget to write one!

~EndingDream6560


	14. Chapter 14: Loyalty

Chapter 14

Marley POV:

Four out of six of the Avengers were unconscious and strapped to a lab table, so I guess the other two were back in America. Upon seeing the helpless superheroes, Leo became even more restless.

"Oh, I knew we shouldn't have come down here. Marley, let's leave before we get caught!" He whined, tugging on my shirt to lead me back to the hallway. I shook him off and ventured deeper into the room, eager to learn more. My boots clicked against the white tiled floors. Leo stayed by the door, clutching his blue and grey back pack like a teddy bear.

The room was set up like something out of a Sci-Fi movie. The room was painted stark white, silver shelves lining the walls all the way around. Containers filled with multicolored liquids were all around the room, some also containing animal parts. It was horrifying to think about what they do with that stuff. I shuddered at the thought.

I moved closer to the tables, looking at each Avenger in turn. They each looked so peaceful, as if they were back at home sleeping instead of faraway, possibly in a coma of sorts. Next to each of their tables, lay their respective weapons, save Tony, whose Iron man suit was locked inside of a glass case across the room.

A small beeping sound startled me out of my thoughts. I forget that my watch doubles as a communication device between me and my mentor, Rikki. I opened up the small glass covering and pressed the side button, Rikki's face showing on the watch.

"Listen up, mincemeat, "She started before I could greet her. "We'll be back to base in about 30 minutes. You had better be in the training room warming up when I get there, or else I'll hang you upside down on the gym ceiling and tie 30 pound weights to your hands!"

I smiled nervously. "Alrighty. See you soon." No, I'm not scared. Just a little wary. Rikki had, after all, tied me to a tree in the rain before for defying her before. I just wasn't too fond of anything like that happening to me again.

I turned back to the door where Leo was watching me through half lidded green eyes. He was getting tired. "C'mon. We're heading back." Silently he nodded and moved over to let me lead the way out. I took one last glance at "Earth's mightiest heroes", silently wishing to find more answers to my questions.

20 minutes later, we found ourselves in the large underground gym, almost empty, save Moonah, whom despite training for half of the day, was still full of energy.

"So," She asked, brown eyes shining with anticipation. "What did you guys do today?" Leo and I shared a glance. "We just… explored, I guess." I responded.

Moonah drew closer. "Really? What did you find?" "Oh, things." I smiled nonchalantly. Leo's nervous frown never left his small face. Moonah was about to reply when the gym doors opened to reveal our mentors.

Rikki and Badger were both in their usual uniforms, mentor badges gleaming silver under the bright gym lights. Behind them, Captain Nora stood tall, ready to oversee our assessment for the day: fighting our mentors. The Idea was to be able to hold your own for 5 minutes. If you did, you moved on. Most of us don't like to think of what happens if we don't.

Leo and Badger were up first. They stood across from each other, waiting to go. All of his previous nervousness seemed to melt away at the prospect of showing his talents. The two nodded to each other and the bell sang, signaling the beginning of the assessment.

Quick as a rabbit, Leo raced over to Badger, hoping to catch him off guard. The bigger teen latched on to Leo's thick tail, but Leo ducked between Badger's legs, effectively flipping the boy over with his own body weight. Badger quickly jumped up, still holding on to Leo's tail, and spun the little boy around.

Badger let go of him and watched as Leo twisted in the air and landed on all fours. Using his momentum, the small boy launched another attack toward his mentor, this time, diving to the left before Badger was in range. He swiftly climbed onto Badger's back, holding on as the teen tried to buck him off. He stayed on Badger's back until the timer went off a minute later.

At the sound of the bell once again, Leo happily slid off of his mentor's back, racing up the stairs to where we stood. He practically flew into Moonah's open embrace, letting her pick him up like a toddler.

Badger huffed indignantly as he climbed the steps slower and walked towards Rikki, glaring at Leo as he shuffled by. Captain Nora smirked at her clipboard, eyes half lidded. "Congratulations, Leo. Though I must admit, I would've though your assessment would be more… complicated for your size comparisons."

Badger only let out a low growl as he flopped down on one of the arena seats. Nora looked over to me and Rikki.

Showtime.

Just like before, Rikki stood across from me, her confident smirk showing her white canine teeth. I got into a low fighting stance as Rikki simply stood with her arms crossed, as easy-going as ever. The bell rang again.

Neither moved.

I narrowed my eyes. Rikki was always the first one to attack, so why isn't she moving now? Despite her relaxed nature, I kept my guard up, ready to defend myself at any time. 3 minutes had already gone by on the clock and neither of us had moved. I glanced at the clock again. 1 minute left.

In a flash of bright red, my legs were kicked out from under me, flailing in the air as I fell. When did she get behind me? I quickly unfolded my wings and righted myself before I hit the ground. Acting recklessly, I rammed into Rikki's stomach, knocking the air out of her as she landed with a thud. As she caught her breath, I leaned over her, ready to make a smart comment.

Suddenly, the arena was showered in a red light as alarms went off in the building. _'Security breech.' _ A monotonous female voice alerted the building as it repeated. Forgetting about the test, Rikki ran up to Nora with me scrambling up behind her.

The ceiling gave way under the weight of whatever was on the surface, as it fell down and broke the floorboards, falling further down into the underground. Whatever the thing was roared like a pride of lions. And it appeared to be…

Green?

* * *

Topaz POV:

After Rikki and Badger went their separate ways, King and the other two captains took us lower underground. Flanked by Ivy and Shuffle, the Germans led us to a large cell, complete with a steel door. King half turned to me.

"I'll give you one last chance. You can join us and we can become strong as one, or," he gestured to the open jail cell. "You can spend your days going mad from lack of food."

I narrowed my eyes, blazing in defiance. "I'd never join a traitor like you." "We're making the world a better place for people like us to live in! Others will come to respect us!" He shouted back.

With all of my dignity and pride, I marched into the cell. "You've gotten you definition of 'respect' and 'fear' mixed up, King." I stood tall in the middle of the large cell. Magenta and Ivy, without a doubt in their minds, came to stand next to me, never seeming to regret their decision.

Chauncey and Shuffle shared a glance and also walked inside the cell, albeit a bit more uneasy about the room size. All who was left was…

Snowflower. The blonde streaked girl looked up to her older brother. The two were all they had left of their family. She couldn't bear to lose him. I knew how it felt to be separated from family. Snow took a step back, toward her brother and reached out for his hand, which he took delicately.

She didn't look anyone in the eye as the steel cage bars slammed shut with a resounding clang. No one talked as King and the Germans walked away, Snow lingering in front of the cell for a moment. Ivy reached out between the bars toward Snow.

"Snowflower, _Lucy_, you must discover where your true loyalties lie. Whether it's with your brother, or the ones who care about you."

Snow squeezed her eyes shut and ran back down the hallway where King disappeared. She glanced back once; regret running tears down her red cheeks and left.

I turned back to the cell, leaning against the steel bars. Through the dimly lit cell, my keen eyes could make out every detail of my friends. Magenta and Chauncey sat on the thin springy mattress against the back wall. Shuffle leaned against the side wall, gazing up into nothingness, hands shoved into pale blue pockets. Ivy sat crisscrossed next to me, looking up at me.

"Well… what now?" Everyone looked to me for guidance now and as much as I wanted to scream and scratch at the bars until they broke, I had to keep my cool. I crossed my arms.

"Someone from SHIELD's bound to come looking for us. Until then, we find a way out of this cell and look for the Avengers." Chauncey's frown grew into a small smile. Shuffle directed his steely silver gaze my way.

"And how do you suppose we do that?" He challenged. "There's no way to break through these bars, they're too thick." He was interrupted by a small jingling sound. Every one of the cell occupants looked over at the small boy with the Cheshire grin. In his small raised hand, held a set of bronze keys, on of which was tagged "Cell doors".

Ivy jumped up and grinned, along with Magenta. "Now, what a clever young kid you are. I'd have never known that you are a pickpocket, Alek." Ivy praised the young boy. Over flowing with pride, Chauncey presented the keys to me.

Taking them with a devious smirk, I quickly unlocked the door. Now freed from our temporary trap, we gathered into the hallway.

As if someone already knew, red lights started flashing as a female voice alerted us of a security breech. I pointed to the end of the hallway, where a staircase led down deeper into the connection of endless tunnels. "Quickly, this way!"

As we traveled farther down, I could hear loud crashes and fast footsteps thundering after us. We made it into another hallway. I checked doors to find one that was open, as everyone followed me. A cry of surprise tore my gaze away from the current door I tried to yank open. Shuffle had found a door that easily swung open, knocking him off his feet.

Racing toward the door, I grabbed his hand as we piled into the door. This inevitably led down a staircase we found out as we all tumbled down to the bottom. I noticed, as I hit the bottom step, that it was too dark for even me to see through, the blackness seemingly cutting into the silence as well.

As we untangled ourselves from our dog pile, the darkness faded into a lab area as the lights flipped on. Looking to my left, I realized that Shuffle, cleverly using his bat abilities, had easily avoided the pile of kids on the ground and found the switch.

It was easily identifiable as a science lab. I looked as if it hadn't been used in a while, as dust lined the tables and coated the beakers of different sizes. I heard a low hum coming from another room, as Shuffle heard it to. We exchanged glances, and, taking no chances, picked up something to defend ourselves just in case.

An empty beaker in hand, I slowly approached the door where the sound was coming from. Opening it just slightly, my eyes widened at the sight before me.

The lost Avengers were all strapped to body sized tables, all unconscious. Also in the room were two Germans in lab coats, checking the vitals of the superheroes with their backs to the door. Nodding to Shuffle, we slowly crept through the door, each crouching behind a scientist.

As Shuffle held the broken table leg above his head, the other scientist saw him. He pointed, but before he could make an actual word, I struck him on the head with the beaker, a strange blue liquid pouring over his head as he fell to the ground.

The other scientist struggled against Shuffle as the boy failed at hitting him. Quickly letting go of the piece of wood to let it fall, Shuffle brought up a hand to punch the man in the face, meeting the ground along with his companion.

I gazed in wonder at the scientists. "Nice job…" Shuffle cradled his hand, a shy smile across his face. "They make it look less painful in the movies." He chuckled shyly.

With the danger taken care of, Ivy looked over the IV lines leading to each sleeping Avenger. She hummed, carefully looking over each one and the IV line that they were attached to. Finally smiling and nodding her head, she walked over to Tony and simply yanked off the line, infusion liquid dripping onto the ground.

Not a second later, we found ourselves gazing into the startled brown eyes of Tony Stark.

* * *

End of Chapter 14!

I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to update. A lot has been going on so far. I promise that it won't take as long to get the next chapter up!

"I used to advertise my loyalty and I don't believe there is a single person I loved that I didn't eventually betray." Albert Camus, _The Fall_


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